


Six For One Deal

by Dotdotbeepdot



Series: Self-Indulgent [5]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Body Horror, Fluff and Angst, Gen, I don't really have a plan for this, I guess???, I just wanted to write androids, NOT DBH, This is my own android things, peeling skin is kinda gore so whatever, will add as I go on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:34:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 20,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24570880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dotdotbeepdot/pseuds/Dotdotbeepdot
Summary: Thomas was the proud owner of four androids. One Companion and three Assistants. It seemed like a lot for one guy, but they have a good system going and Thomas wouldn't have it any other way.He didn't expect two more androids to walk into his life. Especially in the middle of the day and scared out of their wits.
Relationships: Probably gonna be none idk, none at the moment
Series: Self-Indulgent [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1652389
Comments: 35
Kudos: 116





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, android au based on my android things. I'm gonna try and force as much android facts and backstory as much as I can because I don't want to write prequels for all of this.

Thomas looked up from his tv as he heard a knock on his front door. He would’ve ignored it, not really wanting to interact with real human beings right now, but the muffled argument on the other side and one of the knocks being cut off caught his attention. Not wanting a fight to break out on his doorstep, Thomas got up to answer his door.

“Woah, woah! Hold your horses there, Thomas!” one of his androids, Roman by the sound of it, got up with him with a protest. His ‘brother’ Remus hopped up with him, both of them holding up toy weapons that Thomas had gifted them. “We insist that you stay put instead of answering that door and risk getting hurt!”

“Yeah!” Remus agreed with his other half, nodding vigorously. “We’ll go answer the door and take care of them!”

“Exactly!”

“No, if you two go out there and act violently towards them, you can risk being dismantled,” Logan shot down their ideas before they could act on them from where he sat formerly beside Thomas on the couch. “It is best that Thomas answers the door as our person and extinguishes the fight from escalating on his property.”

“You take the fun out of everything, you nerd.” Remus pouted, lowering his fake weapon in defeat. Roman followed suit.

Thomas smiled thankfully at Logan as he made his way down the hall to his front door. He could barely hear what the people were fighting about behind his door, their voices hushed and angry. He could tell there were at least two of them, however, and can vaguely hear a high pitched whine of some android’s core behind there too. He knew the sound was fear and anxiety, the poor thing must be distraught with all the fighting.

When he opened the door, all fighting ceased to a stop and left them standing in tense silence. There were only two people, one with an old and tattered hoodie with the good up, and the other in what looked like a thick coat with a little cape over their shoulders. They both immediately looked down at their feet, drawing Thomas’s attention to the bowler hat on the latter’s head.

“Sorry, sir,” the one with the bowler hat said, bringing up a hand to press against his chest, the whine disappearing from him and now solely coming from the one in the hoodie. Androids then. “We were just wondering if you can point us to the direction of town?”

Hoodie shot him a look and whispered something to him. Bowler Hat glared back and hissed something. 

“Well, uh—”

“We were actually hoping for something else.” Hoodie cut Thomas’s stuttering and looked up. He had… odd mismatched eyes, one green and one purple. Bowler Hat grabbed his arm and tugged at him, making Hoodie pull his arm away and glare. “Do you think we can stay here for the night? Promise no longer than that.”

Bowler Hat hissed something else, lifting his head enough for Thomas to see past the shadow covering his face. He was surprised at what he saw. It looked like half the android’s face had been burned.

“Never mind about those directions, we’ll find it ourselves.” Bowler Hat tried to tug Hoodie’s arm again, but he tore himself away even more aggressively.

“Oh, no, no, come in,” Thomas opened the door wider for the two, distracting them from their game of tug of war. “At least just for a rest? You look like you need it. I do have a couple more household members. Androids.”

He only added that last part for their sakes. It was obvious they were uncomfortable being in the presence of a human as two personless androids. The power dynamic was clear. Thankfully, it seemed to work because Hoodie looked more relaxed and Bowler Hat let go of his arm.

“Fine.” Bowler Hat relented, straightening up and looking Thomas straight in the eye. He really wanted to look away. “Do you have any extra chargers? We might as well charge up while we’re here.”

Thomas nodded and watched them walk past him. Despite relaxing a bit at the thought of other androids, he still watched Thomas carefully as he walked past, keeping close to Bowler Hat. He cleared his throat and followed after the two, a few steps away.

“Yeah, I have a few you can borrow.” Thomas said. He ushered them into the kitchen and searched through his junk drawer to grab one of his portable chargers. He nodded towards the living room area. “Those are my androids. Logan’s on the couch, Patton over by the windows, and Roman and Remus sitting in front of the tv with their toys.”

“They’re weapons of mass destruction!” The two shouted in unison. Hoodie flinched.

“Guys, hey!” Thomas looked up once he located the chargers and held them in his hands. “Patton, can you calm them down before they get too excited. Our guests are a little jumpy.”

“Of course kiddo! Now, Remus— Ow!” Patton has reached out to take the foam Morningstar from him only to get hit over the head with it. “Roman! Tell him to stop!”

Unfortunately, Thomas’s request didn’t pan out like he was hoping and that just made them all get louder. He should’ve known Remus and Patton weren’t a good mix. 

“Sorry about them,” He turned back around and held out the chargers for them. They were mostly focused on the androids. “They’re practically children.”

Bowler Hat nodded, an unreadable look on his face. Hoodie looked away and took the chargers from Thomas, giving him a small smile. “That’s okay. Uh, they’re all androids right? Why do you have so many?”

“I got Patton as a gift. My friends always worry about me not taking care of myself so they got me an old Caretaker. Logan I got  _ for _ Patton when I’m away. He’s also an Assistant so it’s useful to have him. Roman I didn’t plan for, just was looking around at a house sale and the owner, and Remus I got for free with him.” Thomas listed them all off on his hand.

“Four androids for one person?” Hoodie raised an eyebrow. “Doesn’t that seem like a lot?”

Thomas shrugged. “I get good money off of them.”

“Oh, Thomas, don't say that! You love us!” Patton shouted where he was curled up in a ball, still getting hit in the head with the Morningstar and now Roman’s sword.

“We do help pay the bills,” Logan said, mindlessly scrolling down his holographic screen in front of him. “Thomas’s YouTube videos star us in it too, and considering that YouTube is his career, we do ‘get him good money’ as he said.”

“Do you guys get paid?” Hoodie asked. He left the kitchen— much to Bowler Hat’s displeasure— and walked into the living room with the others. Roman and Remus stopped wailing on Patton and watched as Hoodie stood next to Logan.

“We do. Thomas insists that he does despite us not really doing much with it.” Logan waved away the screen and looked up at Hoodie.

“We buy clothes with them mostly,” Roman tossed away his sword. “I wanted to get a real sword, but I  _ apparently  _ can’t have a real weapon as an android.” He scoffed.

“That would be cool to have my own money,” Hoodie muttered. He sat down on the edge of the couch, shifting and pulling his sleeves over his hands. He turned around to look at Thomas. “Do you think we can work too? Just like, um, help make videos or something?”

Before Thomas could respond, Bowler Hat answered for him. 

“No,” he commanded. The others looked at him and he lowered his head. “We need to get into town. We aren’t staying longer than we need to.”

“Why not?!” Hoodie’s voice had taken a hard edge to it, glaring at Bowler Hat angrily. “These guys get paid and Thomas is a lot nicer than anyone at a shelter.”

Hoodie stiffened and dropped his head, turning back around on the couch and tugging on his sleeves. The air was painfully tense and the two guests looked like they were thinking of bolting out of there. Logan especially looked uncomfortable. Thomas had gotten him from one of those rescue shelters. It wasn’t terrible for him, but the fact that he was in there at all wasn’t very fun.

“Why are you guys going to a shelter?” Remus asked bluntly. Roman slapped his arm. “Hey! You’re thinking the same thing! You all are, I know it!”

“It’s not any of your business,” Hoodie snapped. “How are you not scraps yet?”

“Hey!”

“Virgil!”

Thomas started in surprise and everyone turned to Bowler Hat. Yellow eyes looked between them all. He looked down and straightened again. 

“Sorry. We’ll leave now.” He gave Virgil a pointed look and the other slumped in defeat. Bowler Hat started towards the door, Virgil following quickly behind. Thomas balked at the sudden change.

“Wait! You don’t need to leave now!” Thomas left the kitchen and stopped the two from leaving. He saw Janus reach his arm out in front of Virgil cautiously. “Hey, I really don’t want you guys to just wander around town. You might get hurt o-or something.”

“We’ll be fine,” Bowler Hat insisted. “Virgil and I are very capable of taking care of ourselves.”

“I  _ do  _ want to stay here…” Virgil seemed like he wanted to say something else, but Bowler Hat threw him a glare. Virgil shifted. “Thomas has a good point. It might be dangerous and… well…”

Bowler Hat kept his eyes on Thomas. Bright yellow eyes, red burned skin, he would’ve said those bumps of melted synthetic skin were blisters. He was just scary to look at, especially with the challenging look he was giving him now.

“Fine.” For the second time tonight, Bowler Hat relented, though he was harsher this time. He dropped the arm that he was holding out in front of Virgil and ushered him back to the living room, keeping a close eye on the human.

Thomas felt his chest fill with thick and murky guilt at that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two guests stay for the night and a few things are revealed about them

Dinner was terribly awkward. Only Thomas and Patton could eat, but they had offered food to their guests, praying that they were Companions and had built in stomachs and they weren’t being highly insensitive. However, Virgil and the android they still didn’t have a name for, said no. 

And now here they were, sitting in silence for the past 20 minutes.

Not that they didn’t try to start conversation.

“So what happened to your face?” Remus asked Bowler Hat, having openly been staring at him while sitting beside his brother on the floor. “Obviously, it’s all melted, but did you do it? Did you get in a fight?  _ Did your former person do it to you?” _

“Remus!” Patton dropped his utensils on his plate and scolded the Assistant like a child. He lowered his voice slightly, softening his expression. “That is very rude to say! I hope you and Roman weren’t both thinking that, kiddos!”

“I wasn’t—! Well…” Roman tried to defend himself, but trailed off. “We share the same thoughts, Patton, you know that! I’m just better at controlling them!”

“Hive-mind Assistants then?” Bowler Hat ignored the question and asked his own instead. Remus nodded, Roman shrinking in embarrassment. “You don’t act much like Hive-minds?”

“Yeah…” Remus giggled. “I’m a little broken so I do my own thing. Anyways, what’s your name?”

“Remus!” All of them but the two guests yelled at him. He jumped and giggled again.

“I rather not tell anyone my name. Less of a chance of any of you looking up my home address.” Virgil scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“I understand the caution, but none of us are equipped with that technology unless you happened to do something that would be in any way newsworthy.” Logan informed the room, once more scrolling on his screen.

Virgil and Bowler Hat exchanged a look, that whine of fear growing in volume in their cores. Bowler Hat pressed his hand against his core and Virgil hunched his shoulders to muffle the sound. The others looked at each other.

“You can call me... Janus.”

None of them were expecting a response.

“Well, that’s better than Bowler Hat Guy from  _ Meet The Robinsons.” _ Thomas joked. He smiled when Virgil let out a snort. Janus rolled his eyes.

“The hat helped cover my face.”

“And the cloak?”

“…It looked nice.”

Remus let out a loud laugh that had everyone else laughing too. Thomas and Patton finished their meals and Patton took their dishes into the kitchen to wash them. Thomas grabbed the remote and turned to Netflix. Virgil was sitting beside him, chewing on his sleeves and watching the tv with him. Roman and Remus have changed into their pajamas— thankfully, Remus is actually wearing clothes instead of what he usually slept in.

“Virgil, you haven’t said anything for awhile?” Roman spoke up as Thomas picked the show he wanted— season 5 of  _ The Office, _ of course— and all settled down for the night. “Something on your mind, Stitches?”

“Stitches?” Virgil muttered, still chewing on his sleeve. Roman gestured to the thick white stitches keeping Virgil’s hoodie sleeve on. “Oh. Well, I just…”

“Virgil was never one to talk much,” Janus answered for him, legs crossed and sitting on the far edge of the couch. “I would say he has social anxiety if he was an organic being.”

“Androids can have something akin to anxiety,” Logan butted in once more from between Janus and Thomas. “Many androids— especially Assistants and Caretakers— can be overthinkers. Androids that have suffered abuse and neglect can also have anxiety issues.”

“Do you ever talk about anything else but stupid factoids from  _ Buzzfeed _ articles?” Virgil snapped at him, dropping his sleeve onto his lap. 

Janus glared at him. “Virgil, be polite.”

He scoffed. Bringing up his sleeve again, he hunched his shoulders and kept his eyes on the tv.

“Actually facts. Factoids are—”

“He does talk about other things!” Remus said, popping up from behind the couch and scaring Virgil and Thomas both. “He talks about space and jam, but surprisingly not  _ Space Jam.” _

“Jam? I thought you were an Assistant?” Janus raised the one eyebrow he had left. He smirked when Logan’s cheeks glowed a dark blue, core humming.

“…They named a jam after me.” A few snickers bounced across the room.

“Really?” Virgil wasn’t laughing, but there was clear amusement in his voice.

“Oh, it’s true!” Thomas grinned. He dropped his head onto the back cushion of the couch and rolled it to the side. “Patton! Bring in the Crofters when you come back!”

“With the popcorn?!” Patton shouted back, poking his head out of the kitchen. He had a popcorn bowl on his head.

“Yeah! I want to show Janus and Virgil!” A moment later, Patton came puttering into the room and handed the popcorn bowl and jam jar to Thomas. He bounced down on the couch next to his person and grinned.

Thomas handed the jar to Janus and pointed at the label. “Crofters watched one of our videos where we had a gag about their jam I got at the store. They emailed me about a fun idea to make Logan’s Berry jam with Logan on the label.”

“That’s so cool,” Virgil reached over and took the jar from Janus. “Did you get paid for it?”

“What is with you and the money thing.” Janus mumbled under his breath. Thomas pretended he didn’t hear him.

“Yeah, we got paid for it. They kinda became our sponsor.” Virgil smiled. Thomas smiled too.

“Can we move on from the subject?” Logan asked, adjusting his necktie to be a little looser. “Where will our guests be staying?”

“They can’t stay in the bathroom with me!” Remus broke through, now back at his spot next to Roman. “I may have put on clothes now, but they’re off as soon as I enter the toilet dungeon!”

“And I still have a room to myself! I’m not giving that up!” Roman sat up and puffed out his chest.

“They can stay here in the living room,” Patton suggested. “There aren't any more rooms left besides the guest room, but they don’t have any charging ports there.”

“They can stay in there,” Thomas gestured to Virgil. “I gave him portable chargers to use so they can charge in the bed.”

“Bed? As in… one bed?” Virgil made a face and looked over at Janus. The other also looked uncomfortable with the idea. 

“Yeah, is that alright?” Thomas was confused. “Aren’t you friends?”

“We left together and we’re traveling together,” Virgil muttered. Janus looked down at his lap. “Doesn’t mean we’re friends.”

Thomas and the others tried not to think too hard on what that meant or what happened between them. Virgil clearly held some bitter feelings for Janus and Janus clearly felt upset about why he and Virgil didn’t get along. 

“I can stay down here then. Virgil.” He held out a gloved hand for the portable charger and Virgil dropped it in his hand. He fiddle with the charger in the awkward silence of the room and jammed it into the back of his neck, the _bing!_ sound notified him that he was charging. 

He straightened up and slapped his hands on his knees. “Well, you should probably get ready and show Virgil to his room. I’ll get settled here.”

Everyone— but Remus who bolted to his bathroom as soon as the words left Janus’s mouth— hesitated for a moment, still feeling terribly awkward. Virgil was the first to push himself off the couch and waited for someone to lead the way. Patton got up and led him up the stairs, Roman and Logan followed behind. 

Thomas waited a minute longer and watched Janus, searching his face. Janus did look awfully upset. Thomas bit his lip and picked at the couch a bit.

“Do you want to talk about what happened between you and Virgil?” He whispered, looking up at Janus through his eyelashes. Janus straightened— Thomas was starting to think that is some sort of nervous habit of his— and looked at Thomas with an indifferent expression.

“You should head to bed now, Thomas, and try to stay off your phone. You don’t want to stay up so late.” 

Thomas sighed and smiled at him. He decided that Janus didn’t want to talk about it, and rather than stay up and make Janus hate him more for bothering him, he said goodnight and headed upstairs to bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, Janus’s real name isn’t Janus, but he will be going as Janus in this book because this is the closest I can get to transgendering androids.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorry this is a day late I got a job

Thomas woke up that morning to Logan and Patton being his alarm clock as usual. The two androids have stayed in his room since they’ve been bought, Thomas not thinking he would have two more androids later and stationing the charging ports in his room. Roman had his own room, that was originally going to be  _ all  _ the androids’ room, but only he ever used it.

Sucks that he’s worked so hard on it, though.

Thomas groaned and tried shoving Logan away. Patton awed and ruffled his person’s hair. 

“Well, you wake up soon, sweetie!” Patton cooed, making his way to the door. “I’ll wake Virgil and Janus up and get breakfast going! Oh, maybe they want to help me make breakfast!”

Thomas forced himself awake. He totally forgot that Virgil and Janus were here. He grunted and dragged himself out of bed, signalling to Logan that he’s actually getting up and leaving downstairs to Patton and most likely the others. 

Once Thomas had gotten ready for the day, he stumbled downstairs and caught Patton just as he was pouring the batter into the pan. Janus was up, but Virgil was still asleep in his room. Logan and Patton greeted him, alerting Janus that he was awake.

“We’ll be out soon,” he reassured as soon as Thomas took a step off the stairs. “I’m just waiting for Virgil to wake and then we’ll be on our way.”

“You don’t need to leave so soon?” Thomas looked at him in surprise. He didn’t expect Janus to be jumping at the chance to get out of here. He thought he was being a good host.

Maybe asking that question last night wasn’t the best idea.

“I don’t want to be a bother—”

“No, no, you aren’t a bother,” Thomas reached out to comfort him, but Janus moved away. “How about you help out in the kitchen a bit? Patton would love the help so he’s not the only one running around.”

Janus stiffened, just barely, but Thomas saw it. He nodded nonetheless and walked towards the kitchen. He left a wide berth around the stove and just stood there. Thomas walked over to the couch, watching Janus curiously. He could hear the shriek of his core, everyone could. Patton shot a look behind him at Janus.

“Are you alright, kiddo?” He asked gently. Janus still jumped.

“I’m perfectly fine.” If he wasn’t practically paralyzed with fear, Thomas would have almost bought his smooth lie.

“You don’t need to work in the kitchen if you’re uncomfortable?”

“No, I’m alright,” he broke his shield and walked up beside Patton. “What should I do?”

“You can cook the bacon while I make the pancakes?” Patton suggested, flipping the pancake easily with the pan alone. “Or as I like to call them, Pattoncakes!”

Janus wasn’t listening, by the looks of it. He was just staring at the stove top. Thomas and Logan both looked at each other. Something was wrong about the whole situation. Roman and Remus could sense it too.

Sadly, Remus was a wild card.

He got up from the floor and headed to the kitchen, dodging Roman and Thomas’s arms from grabbing him. He walked carelessly behind Janus and tapped his shoulder, putting as much enthusiasm into it as he probably shouldn’t.

Janus jumped a mile and his arm shot up to cover himself. He startled Patton and Remus enough to step away, the loud shrieking from his core growing in volume along with a rattling hum. He dropped his arm as quickly as he threw it up, trying to compose himself, but his core wouldn’t quiet down. He didn’t look at anyone, just walked straight past them and up the stairs.

“That isn’t good.” Remus mumbled.

“I should go check on him—” Thomas made haste of getting off the couch, but stopped short of standing when he heard a real shout from upstairs.

“What the hell are you doing!?” Janus came back down the stairs while dragging Virgil along. Virgil was trying to dig his feet into each step, but Janus kept tugging him down. “I don’t want to leave yet!”

“Woah, woah, what’s going on?” Remus stopped them just from stepping off the last step, standing directly in front of them. “Did I scare you? I didn’t it mean to scare anyone this time!”

“Remus.” Thomas and Roman began in a warning. 

“Remus, it’s best that you just step away instead of cornering them.” Logan added.

However, Remus and the others had distracted Janus enough for Virgil to jerk his arm free and run back up the stairs, slamming the door. Janus ran after him and knocked hard on the door.

“Virgil, get out! We’re leaving now!” He shouted.

“I’m not leaving! I’m not going to that shelter and I’m not leaving this room!”

“Virgil, we need to go! Don’t be childish!”

“I’m not leaving, _Dee,_ and you can’t make me!” Virgil's last shout had stopped the fight in its tracks. Thomas felt as if all the air had been sucked from the room as they waited for Janus to come back down. When Janus didn’t come down, Thomas got anxious.

“I’m going up there.” his voice was quiet on its own record. He felt like it shouldn't be any louder. He walked slowly up the stairs, reaching the top and seeing Janus sitting against the door to the guest bedroom.

Janus looked up at him for only a split second before dropping his eyes back to the floor. Thomas hesitated, but decided to sit with him, just in front of him and a few feet away.

“What was that about?” Thomas once again, couldn’t raise his voice any louder than a whisper. “If you want to talk about it?”

Janus didn’t respond right away, but his shoulders slumped a moment later. “Virgil and I just… don’t get along. He hates me.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” Thomas said. “I mean, you two are still together. You could’ve left him this morning and Virgil could’ve let you leave instead of trying to convince you to stay here.”

“Virgil would gladly leave me at the drop of a hat.” Janus muttered. He played with the hem of his gloves. “He was very attached to his people.”

“His people? Not your people?” Thomas was worried about pushing some invisible boundary. Janus shook his head.

“They might have owned me, but they weren’t my people.” He sounded bitter. Hateful. He dropped his hands and looked up at Thomas. “I assume you heard all of it?”

“Yeah, we all did,” he felt guilty admitting it. “Do you still want us to call you Janus?”

“Please.” 

The conversation ended there. They just sat in silence. Only a few minutes later, Patton yelled up the stairs that breakfast was ready. Thomas got up and looked down at the android. Janus didn’t look up.

“I’ll be downstairs,” Thomas said, voice gaining back his usual volume for Virgil to hear. “You two can come down whenever you want. We won’t push you.”

Janus nodded. Thomas gave him one last smile before heading back down to tell the others what he could.

It wasn’t until breakfast was long done with and Thomas and the others started to set up their recording equipment for a little work that Janus and Virgil decided to come downstairs. Janus kept his head up high while Virgil shuffled next to him.

“I would like to apologize for my scene earlier,” he said, all curt and professional. He looked at the lights and cameras, but didn’t say anything about it. “Virgil would like to apologize as well.”

“Yeah, sorry.” Virgil muttered. He looked up and around at the equipment too.

“I would also like to say Virgil and I have decided that we will stay a little longer. If that is okay with all of you.” Thomas perked up and smiled.

“You will? Really?” 

“As long as you are alright with that, Thomas.”

“Of course I am!” Thomas hopped over to them. “You guys can help with videos too! Maybe you can be special guests or help with the scripts or lighting— b-but you don’t need to help at all. You can just relax.”

“No, we will help. I won’t overreact like that again.” Janus sounded so sure. Thomas wanted to tell him that he didn’t need to help and he wasn’t overreacting at all, but he knew Janus wouldn’t accept it.

“Okay… Well, how about you help with the cameras and lights for now and maybe you can join later if you guys want?” Thomas offered. 

Janus and Virgil looked at each other, then back at Thomas and nodded. They both jumped as they all cheered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah Janus's name is actually Dee in this au but he won't be going by Dee at all in it so it's fine. It's just still weird calling Janus, Janus.


	4. Chapter 4

It’s been two days since Janus and Virgil have shown up at the Sanders household. Virgil has adjusted well. He liked working with the others and he liked talking with them too. Janus never expected Virgil to get so attached so quickly. He worried about why that is. 

Janus also noticed that, despite Virgil getting along with the others, he avoided Remus.

He was definitely different from Roman. The Hive-mind followed his other half like a puppy. He blurted out the thoughts they shared and even added some darker twist to them. Roman and him were brought here to help with Thomas’s YouTube and make creative and fun scripts, but Remus was often left out of it because of his darker ideas. It seemed like that has transferred to other parts of their lives considering that Remus wasn’t even part of the videos.

He reminded Janus a lot of Virgil when he first came around.

Everyone was talking in the kitchen and dining room area— that Thomas never used since he seemed to eat all his meals on the couch— while Janus stood off to the side and watched. Virgil was getting especially close to Patton and Janus had a suspicion on why. 

Remus was also off to the side, mostly just watching the others talk. He tried adding a thought every now and again, but Roman stopped him. He eventually gave up trying to talk. 

Janus decided to talk to him.

He slid up beside Remus and watched the conversation too. Remus had noticed him and Janus knew he was staring at him instead. He gave him a glance.

“What would you like to talk about, Remus?” Janus asked him as the others kept talking. Remus looked at him awestruck. 

“I dunno,” He mumbled. A thought must’ve crossed his mind because he peeked up and led Janus away. “Your name’s really Dee?”

“It is,” Janus didn’t want to let it show that him using his real name made him uncomfortable. “I prefer you use Janus, however.”

“Why’s that? Don’t like your given name?” Janus could at least see that Remus meant no harm asking.

“It’s not that. I just don’t want to use it.” Janus didn’t want to go into specifics on why he didn’t want to use Dee anymore. 

“Is it because you want to distance yourself from your former people?” 

Maybe he didn’t need to explain it.

Remus must have seen something in his face because he laughed, bouncing on his feet. “I did that too! Lucky guess! My old bastard of an owner used to just call me Roman too and it was annoying so I did some research and found about these roman figures named Romulus and Remus and Remus was killed by Romulus.”

Janus just stared at him for a moment, absorbing the onslaught of weird information. And yet, he smiled at him, once again leaving the Assistant awestruck.

“That is very interesting,” Janus said. “I also did research on my name. Roman, two-faced god. Virgil thinks it’s in bad taste because of my… misfortune.”

Remus, however, laughed. He liked it and thought it was funny. How sweet. 

And so, Janus started to spend time with Remus. They haven’t even made it an entire day and his leash has been handed over to Janus. The others were surprised, Virgil and Roman more so than anyone else. By dinner, Remus and Janus were joined at the hip.

“When did you two become friends?” Thomas asked cheerfully as he and Patton settled down for the meal. Remus has abandoned his brother's side to sit on the floor in front of Janus. 

“Just this morning!” Remus shouted. “He came over to talk to me and we talked about our names.”

“Remus, I thought I told you not to ask about his name.” Patton scolded softly like he was talking to a child. Remus huffed and dropped his head back on Janus’s knee.

“He wasn’t that offended! And I told him the story of my name too! We have the same idea.” Remus looked over at Roman, who looked shakened.

“It doesn’t offend me at all,” Janus reassured the others, acting nonchalant about it. “If you ask me something I don’t want to talk about, I’ll tell you.”

“Of course  _ you’re  _ okay with questions,” Virgil snarked. “None of this shit ever bothered you.”

Janus didn’t dignify him with a response. Ever since they’ve been alone together, Virgil has tried to get a rise out of him, tried to get him upset. God, sometimes he wished he didn’t care so much. If he didn’t he wouldn’t be in this situation right now.

“If you don’t mind then,” Logan skidded past Virgil’s statement too. “I have noticed that your voice box seems to be damaged. I was wondering if I can help with that?”

Janus hesitated for a moment. His voice box has been damaged for years. A hissing, almost lisp of some sort, took over when he spoke. He could imagine what he sounded like without it, but he doesn’t know if he could let anyone that close to his throat. Especially if the voice box needed to be replaced, Logan would need to know his model number and could learn about who his people are and  _ where _ they are. He doesn’t want to believe Logan would snoop around, but he doesn’t know him that well.

“I don’t know,” Janus admitted slowly. He was uncomfortably aware of his voice now. “I don’t believe it’s anything to fix. I can still communicate clearly.”

“What about your face?” Remus asked.

“Well, it’s rather expensive to replace skin and it doesn’t always work out,” he said. “And I don’t have a person with money, or really a person at all.”

“I understand that,” Thomas nodded. He brought the pizza he was having for dinner up and took a few bites before finishing his sentence. “As long as you don’t feel disgusted with your appearance and you can live like that happily, you don’t need to get it fixed. And the same goes with your voice.”

Janus nodded, not entirely paying attention. He could feel Virgil’s eyes on him, thinking of the same thing he was. The burn on his face had been terrifying and stressful the first few weeks out alone. It was one of the few things that Virgil could bring up and actually bother him. The only reason it isn’t bothering him now is because no one was mentioning how it happened.

“You don’t feel like that, do you?” Roman asked softly. Janus dragged himself back to attention and looked at Roman. 

“Insecure about my face?” Roman nodded. Janus hesitated, shifting and making Remus lift his head off his knee. “I would like to say no, I am not.”

Virgil scoffed.

“I might’ve been at some point,” he glared at Virgil. “But I’ve grown used to it. It’s only cosmetic, nothing systematic or important.”

“Do you mind me asking how it happened? It looks intentional.” Patton’s voice was soft and suggesting, showing that he wouldn’t be upset or pushy if he denied to answer.

Janus thought for a moment. He didn’t want to tell them what happened, didn’t want to get into a fight with Virgil about it, but he felt like he should. Like telling his story was some sort of payment for them treating them so kindly. 

But it was  _ terrifying.  _ He didn’t want to think about what happened to him, even if it would help him move on. He would never  _ forgive  _ himself for what happened and being reminded of it all the time when he passes by a mirror or sees his reflection in a glass was bad enough. He would like nothing more than to delete his memories of what happened and just wonder for the rest of his life if he could.

Virgil would kill him if he did, however.

“He started a fire,” Virgil answered for him after a few moments of silence. Janus and the others stared at him. Oh God, please don’t tell. 

“We were cooking breakfast with our people and then he started a fire,” he looked Janus dead in the eye and Janus felt his core shut down. “And left our people to die.”

The whole house seemed to fall silent in an instant, even the air conditioner stopped to let them suffocate in the hot, tense air. Janus could head his core starting to scream, but it just sounded like ringing in his ears. He shut his eyes tight and faced his lap. 

They were all  _ so  _ quiet it was  _ painful. _

Eventually, it became too much and Janus had to leave. So— with the others calling out to him and Remus trying to grab him back— Janus went straight for the front door and left.

He didn’t even hesitate before running.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh nooooo


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> backstory backstory backstory

Thomas shot up from the couch as soon as he heard the door shut, ignoring the pizza box that had fallen to the floor and rushed to the door. He tore it open from its ajar state and stuck his head out, looking left and right.

Janus was nowhere to be seen.

“Shit.” He whispered, shutting the door and pacing back into the living room. Everyone sat tense in their spots, almost frozen. Remus and Virgil especially looked scared.

“Wh-what happened? Where is he?” Patton stuttered out. Thomas ignored him and stepped over his fallen pizza, snatching his phone from the couch. He quickly brought up the keypad to dial 911, but stopped.

Janus could be in more danger if he called the police. He could lash out in fear and the police would shoot him. A violent android is an android considered as a danger and would be dismantled. And if what Virgil said was true, he may just be a wanted criminal.

“Thomas, where is he?” Logan pulled him out of his thoughts.

“He ran.” Thomas said as calmly as he could, but his heart was beating faster each second. He swallowed and turned off his phone. “He was gone by the time I got to the door.”

“Oh, shit.” 

“How can he run that fast?”

“He’s probably used to running because he’s a murderer.”

“Remus!”

“If you’ve been accused of murder and you run instead of explaining yourself then you’re not innocent!”

“This is all my fault.”

All eyes turned to Virgil. He was curled up into himself from where he sat next to Patton, staring at nothing. He was overheating, fear and anxiety making his fans start up to cool him off and making his chest rise and fall rapidly. He dropped his head to his knees and pulled the hood tightly over his head.

“This is all my fault, I shouldn’t have tried to upset him.” Virgil sounded like he might start crying, his core moaning in misery. 

Patton wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “Oh, no, sweetheart. It’s okay, we’ll find him.”

“I just wanted him to talk about what happened,” he cried. Thomas kneeled in front of him and placed a hand on his leg. “He’s been avoiding it for weeks and I just want him to talk about what he did and what our people did and he just wouldn’t!”

“I’m going to contact the local shelters and tell them to keep a lookout for Janus.” Logan informed them and went to the kitchen to give himself privacy. Thomas nodded his thanks. He wasn’t very good with emotions, being an Assistant makes him a lot more detached to these things.

“What do you mean what your people did? Did they deserve to die?” Remus butted in and climbed up beside Virgil. Roman slapped his leg from where he sat on the floor.

“One of them was— was yelling at me, a-and I was used to it because he always yelled. H-he shoved me into the stove where I was cooking breakfast and I got burned a little. He went to do it again but Janus pulled me away and then they were fighting and he grabbed Janus and shoved his face into the hot stove top. While Janus was trying to get away, he… he must’ve hit one of the dials and let out the gas.

“Before I knew what was happening, the cabinets were on fire a-and Janus pulled me out of the kitchen just before it exploded. W-we just ran without thinking. It’s all my  _ fault.” _

Virgil ended his rambling with a gasp and pulled his legs tighter to his chest. His whole body shook with his pain and Patton tried his best to wrap him in a warm hug. Remus and Roman looked spaced out and shakened, both of them acting much more like Hive-minds as they copied each other’s sunken posture.

Thomas just listened and rubbed Virgil’s arm. It was heartbreaking to hear what he and Janus have gone through, living in a dangerous household with the people there were supposed to be family to them. 

“I am  _ so  _ sorry for what happened to you two,” he began, gentle and understanding. “I can’t imagine what you must feel right now. But I know that Janus is probably feeling that too, and we have to find him before he gets himself hurt.”

Virgil nodded and untucked his head, wiping the tear stains on his face with his sleeve. His eyes were so bright and so glassy as he looked at Thomas.

“I want you to calm down first before we go out to find him, okay?” Virgil nodded again. “Okay, so; I don’t know if this works on androids as well as it works on me, but let’s do some breathing exercises to help cool you down.”

Virgil nodded and sat up a little more. Thomas instructed him to breath in for four seconds, hold for eight, and out for seven. Virgil followed him diligently and was slowly starting to calm down. Patton rubbed his shoulder, encouraging and comforting him the best he could. His fans shut down once Logan came back into the room.

“I’ve told every android shelter we have in the area to contact us if they come into contact with Janus. They'll have to meet with us to hand him over because he ran away and they want to make sure he would be in safe hands.” He explained. 

Thomas sighed. “Thank you, Logan.” He looked over at Remus and Roman, seeing them still away from reality. “Do you two want to come with us to try and find Janus?”

They both jumped at being addressed to.

“Yes.”

“No.”

Roman and Remus looked at each other. “What? Why the hell not?!”

“Someone should stay behind in case he comes back.” 

“Don’t try lying to me, we share the same thoughts!”

Roman tossed his arms in the air and got up, pacing the floor. “Fine! It’s because he could be dangerous!”

“Their people deserved what was coming to them!” Remus got up too and stormed into his other half’s way. “They were assholes! Abusive assholes!”

“Our programming makes it so we  _ can’t  _ hurt humans and he fought one and burned them to a crisp! Even if they did deserve it—”

“Which they didn’t.” Patton interrupted firmly which made Remus glare at him. 

“He’s still dangerous,” Roman crossed his arms. “We are here to protect Thomas and Janus is a threat.”

“We aren’t his fucking bodyguards, we’re his fucking editors so he doesn’t put too many butt jokes out onto the Internet!” Remus was screaming by the end and Thomas decided he had enough of it.

“Okay, okay, that’s enough.” He got up and in between them, pulling them apart. “You two will stay home while we go out.” Remus opened his mouth to start yelling again but Thomas held up his hand. “Just… unless he comes back like Roman said.”

“He said that so he didn’t sound like a heartless bastard.”

“Remus. Language.” Remus’s core growled and he stormed away, crashing down on the couch and crossing his arms in a fit. Thomas sighed. 

“Okay, Virgil, Patton, Logan,” he turned around to the other androids and pointed to the door. “Get in the car and lets get going.”

Patton helped Virgil straighten out and led him off to the garage, Logan in front of them. Thomas walked after them, but turned back around and pointed at the Hive-minds. “You two get along. I don’t want to come back here and see you two still upset with each other.” 

Neither of them dignified him with a response, still silently fuming about their disagreement. Thomas sighed for the second time that night and left.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman and Remus talk

Remus was still pouting when they heard the garage door closing, signaling that they left. It was much darker out now, leaving the single light from the lamp next to the tv as the only thing illuminating the room.

Roman was the first one to break.

“Look, Remus—”

“I don’t want to talk about it, you hypocritical butthole.” Remus snapped at him, tucking himself into his shoulders. 

Roman’s jaw worked. “I’m not being a hypocrite—”

“Oh, you  _ so  _ are!” Remus rolled his head back as he drew out the ‘so’ in exaggeration. He threw his arm out and gestured to him. “We also had a shitty, abusive owner and you just want to keep Janus out because you don’t like that he had one too!”

“Oh, please,” Roman scoffed. “Only she ever called people with androids ‘owners’.”

“You’re totally dodging what I’m saying!” Remus slapped his hand down on the cushion. “Janus and Virgil had shitty people too and you don’t want them around because of it!”

“I don’t want Janus around because he’s  _ dangerous.” _

“Then what about when  _ I  _ hurt our owner, huh? Are you gonna convince the others to throw  _ me  _ out too?”

Roman stopped. They never brought up the time Remus had struck their former person in the head with a bat. Nothing really even provoked it. She had gotten angry with his broken system and had locked him away in a closet for an hour. Remus always threw a fit and Roman  _ hated  _ the thoughts that would cross their minds when he was in there. When she had opened it to let him out, he had swung an old wooden bat at her head.

The next day, Thomas bought them at the estate sale.

“I wouldn’t do that.” The fight had left Roman now, just feeling drained.

“Why not?” Remus snarked back with the same amount of anger he had, even more than before. “I could’ve killed her. I could’ve kept swinging until her head was mush and I could’ve killed you and even Thomas too! Why don’t you kick me out if I’m so dangerous?!”

“Because you’re my brother,” Roman stomped his foot, whining for the fight to be done with. “You’re my other half! I can’t just let you get dismantled!”

“Virgil and Janus are like brothers too!” Remus shouted. “They care about each other and Virgil doesn’t want Janus out on the streets or in a junkyard either!”

Roman looked lost. He brought a hand through his hair and let it sit on the back of his neck. “You’re right…”

“Finally, you agree with me for once.” Remus started to calm, now picking at his filthy socks. 

Roman dropped his arm and walked over to the couch. He sat down next to his brother. 

“I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I was scared of having a murderer in our house, with our family.”

“It was justified.” Remus mumbled.

“Even so,” Roman shifted. “I love all you guys and I don’t want any of you to get hurt.”

Remus looked over at him through the corner of his eye. Roman really did look guilty and ashamed. He rolled his eyes and draped his arms around him, going in for a very limp and heavy hug. Roman smiled and hugged him back.

“I’m not gonna say it back.”

“I know you do too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little backstory for the twins. They’ve had a fucked past too along with Jan and Virgil. Not much I can say, but this will be talked about again later.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh what’s this??? A lead???

Thomas and the others came home sullen, having seen no sign of Janus. Logan had called the shelters, but they had visited them anyways so they could see that they did really care for him and where he was. How did he just disappear? He couldn’t have gotten so far away so fast, could he? 

He really just hoped he was okay. 

And so did the others.

Virgil had calmed down, but he was still jumping at any sign of a hat or a flash of yellow. He was still chewing on his sleeve, the thing now stretched out and a little frayed. The poor android looked like a lost child at everything, waiting for their mom to reappear in their vision. 

Thomas wasn’t doing much better, but he was definitely doing better than Virgil. He felt that this was somehow his fault. He didn’t go after him fast enough and he didn’t run out the door to look for him soon enough. Janus was upset and ran, Thomas could’ve prevented that somehow.

Patton and Logan fared much better, but they definitely looked antsy to find him safe and return home. They weren’t attached to Janus as much as the others were, but Patton was a very empathetic android and he focused more on making sure Virgil and Thomas didn’t beat themselves up too much.

They got home at around 9:30 pm, shutting the door to the garage sadly behind them. Roman and Remus have apparently gotten along again because they were found sitting on the floor in front of the tv and watching  _ The Corpse Bride. _ They looked up and frowned when they couldn’t see Janus among them.

“No luck?” Roman asked. They shook their heads. Patton led the still shakened Virgil to the couch and sat down with him, starting a cuddle party starring the two of them.

“Did you check the crime scene?” Remus asked, pausing their movie. “He might’ve came back to it.”

“Why would he do that?” Thomas’s frown deepened in his confusion. 

“I dunno? Guilt? He might feel bad now that it’s been brought up again?” Remus shrugged.

“He does have a point,” Logan nodded. He came into everyone’s view and got all their attention to explain. “Virgil had said that he’s been avoiding thinking about what happened; he might be heading there to see the ashes or even turn himself in.”

“But why would he do that?” Thomas said. “He told me himself that he didn’t like his old people, he didn’t even see them as his people. Why would he go back if he doesn’t care for them?”

“Even if Janus didn’t like his people, he still took a life and he’s living with that guilt. Most killers return to the scene of the crime to either to mourn or to gloat about getting away with it.”

“Janus wouldn’t gloat,” Virgil muttered. “I mean, he does gloat, but he hasn’t even talked about what happened yet.”

“Then to mourn.” Logan conceded.

“We’ll check there tomorrow,” Thomas stopped Virgil before he could jump up and run to the car. Him and Patton both deflated. “You all need to charge and I need to sleep. Logan, can you stay alert maybe, just in case Janus comes in while we rest?”

Logan nodded. “I’ll stay down here with the portable charger.”

Thomas was barely listening now, just muttering a thanks and herding the others upstairs. He was utterly exhausted, way too much excitement for one day. He just prayed that they find him tomorrow so everything would be alright.

  
  


By the time morning came, Logan said no one had come over night. Thomas only sighed and went to the kitchen to make cereal. Patton likes cooking for him, but Thomas wasn’t in much of a mood to eat anything big. Plus, the stove kind of made him sick now knowing why Janus was so afraid of it. 

Yet he still tried to help.

Thomas plopped down at the dining room table and poured his cereal. Virgil came down stairs and went straight to Thomas. He sat next to him, jittery and stressed. Looks like he didn’t rest well.

“What if Janus is hurt? What if he’s hurting himself? What if—” Thomas took Virgil’s shoulders and gave them a comforting squeeze.

“Janus is probably fine.” He tried to reason with the android, but it didn’t work.

“What if he’s been arrested and is being dismantled right now—“

_ “Virgil,”  _ Thomas interrupted him firmly. Virgil raised his hoodie sleeve and chewed on the end. “Janus is fine. We’re going to your old place soon and see if he’s there.”

Virgil frowned, but nodded. His leg was still bouncing and his core shuddering. Thomas gave his shoulders one last squeeze and let go of him to finish his cereal. They would leave after breakfast.

Roman and Remus came downstairs next. Well, more like barreling down the stairs with Remus shirt halfway on and covering his face. He fell last step and Roman stepped on his back and laughed at his pained groan. He sat down next to Virgil, smiling at him reassuringly.

“So, my anxious prince, mind if we come along this time?” Remus got to his feet and slapped Roman in the back of the head. Roman helped and rubbed the back of his head, glaring after his hive-mind. “Remus is a little worried about him. He’s kept me up all night with dumb thoughts about him being nothing but metal and plastic scraps roaming the streets like a—”

_ “Shh,”  _ Thomas cut Roman off. Virgil was spacing out during Roman’s rambling and the whine of his core grew louder. “You’re not  _ helping.” _

Roman rolled his eyes, but at least looked a little guilty. “Sorry…” Remus sat next to him, holding a bunch of jars in his hands, including Logan's Berry. Roman quickly took them away with Thomas’s help. “And I’m sorry you’re not gonna make your concoction sandwich again.”

“Heh,” Remus snorted, letting them take his jars away. “Con- _ cock _ -tion.”

“He looks worried.” Virgil snarked. It would have had more effect if it wasn’t for the fact that he was still chewing on his sleeve and whining. 

“He stress eats,” Roman said. He slapped Remus’s hand away as he tried grabbing the jar of pickles. “Only problem is that he could die from it because Assistants don’t have artificial stomachs.”

“Why would he do that then?” Virgil asked quietly. Remus's hand got slapped away again and he growled at his brother.

“Nothing makes you feel more alive than when you’re close to death. Anyways—” he pulled a deodorant stick and popped open the lid. He took a bite out of it, laughing slightly when Roman made a choked noise of pain. “Are you taking us with to find Jannie or not?”

Virgil rolled his eyes but looked towards Thomas, who was blurrily just trying to eat his breakfast. He felt the eyes on him and looked up.

“You guys can go if you spit that out, Remus.” Thomas couldn’t even regret saying that, as Remus spit the deodorant out on the table. Roman took the stick from it.

“How did you get that?” Roman stressed. He tossed the stick into the garbage and forced open Remus’s mouth. “You didn’t swallow any did you? I really don’t want to clean out your torso and in between your gears before we go.”

Remus let out a groaning/yelling sound and Roman let go of his jaws. Remus snapped them shut, almost on Roman’s fingers. “I didn’t swallow any, don’t worry.”

“Alright, let’s go,” Thomas got up and left his cereal bowl on the table. “Patton, Logan, can you stay here?”

“Of course, kiddo!” Patton took the empty bowl and pinched Thomas’s cheek as he passed. “Logan, hon, can you help me out with the dishes?”

Logan nodded and followed Patton into the kitchen. Thomas led the other three to the car. Virgil got into the passenger seat while the Hive-minds packed into the back. 

“I’ll give you the address once we get going…” Virgil mumbled out, still eating at his sleeves.

The house wasn’t that far away from Thomas’s, about a block or two away. It was blue, at first. The roof and top of the siding was either blackened or covered with new wood. Construction was laid out around the area, but no one was there. Thomas parked his car on the side of the road and turned to the others. 

“I’ll go in first,” he said. “I’m a human so they should just yell at me to get out if someone is in there. I’ll come back with him if he’s there.”

They nodded. Even Remus, who looked like he wanted to object. Thomas nodded back and got out of the car, going towards the house.

It was almost disturbing to see a house like this. If Thomas didn’t know of the people that used to live there, he would’ve guessed it was a normal family home. While he didn’t really know who they were or how many people were in the house, he did know that they weren’t a normal family. Well, they might have  _ looked like  _ a normal family, but Thomas is pretty sure hurting and yelling wasn’t a part of a normal family. 

God, he hoped there weren't children in the family.

Instead of overthinking how many people and what kind of people Janus may have killed in the house fire, he stepped up to the door and tested it. It opened, to his surprise. He walked in slowly, trying not to act surprised at how everything furniture wise was gone and the walls and floor were charcoal. He looked around, seeing no sign of Janus in the entrance, he moved on to the next room, which happened to be the living room. When he couldn’t find any sign of the android, he moved to the next room.

It must’ve been the kitchen. It definitely held the most damage out of the whole house, blackened wood fallen from the ceiling and the tile floor crunching like crackers under his feet. The room was in too much carnage to fit anyone in there, so he ruled out Janus slipping through the cracks just to hide in there.

He was making his way to the stairs to see if Janus could make his way up there― and to make sure  _ he _ could― when he passed the entrance to the backyard. The glass was blown out from the fire, but what distracted Thomas, was the black lump sitting on the glass shard.

It had a bowler hat, wrapped with a yellow ribbon.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is where they’re all a little ooc but I try fixing that the next few chapters. Also, more facts forced in

“Janus?”

The android stiffened, but didn’t turn. He lowered his head instead. He hunched over himself slightly. “I assume Virgil told you where we lived?”

Thomas didn’t really expect that. “Uh, yeah he did. Remus suggested you’d be here because of uh, mourning or something along those lines.” He walked over to Janus and stood awkwardly beside him. “Are you alright?”

“I’ll be fine. The house workers will be back tomorrow and I’ll be taken away.” Janus’s eyes were the only things visible, bright yellow eyes staring forward into the backyard. He looked so tired. “Virgil will be happy I’ll be done with.”

“What? What would make you think that?” Thomas sounded baffled. 

“Don’t try with me,” Janus threw a glare at Thomas and sat up. He was close to snarling as he spoke his next words. “Virgil has been wanting to split since I got us into this mess. You see him when talking to the others and then with me. He rather be with anyone then me. I’m sure he’s just  _ aching _ having me gone.”

“But he  _ is,”  _ Thomas stressed. He sat beside him, trying to ignore Janus cringing away. “He freaked out when you left. He’s been stressing himself out with ‘what if’s’ and made up situations. Everyone else is worried too. We thought we would never see you again.”

“And that thought  _ didn’t  _ fill you with joy?” The android laughed in bad taste. Thomas winced.

“No, of course—”

Both of them jumped as a crash sounded behind them. They looked over their shoulders to see Virgil, Roman, and Remus standing startled behind a burnt wooden pillar that must’ve fallen over. Janus clenched his jaw and stood. He narrowed his eyes at the three.

“Virgil…” despite Janus acting cold, he still softened his voice for his companion. “You shouldn’t be here. This isn’t good for you.”

Thomas could understand what Janus was talking about. Virgil looked at everything like monsters were behind every corner. His eyes were wide and his fans stuttered in his chest. His hands were pressed to his core, probably the reason why they didn’t hear him coming. He looked seconds away from overheating and shutting down. 

If it wasn’t for the fact that he was synthetic, Thomas would’ve said he looked sick to his stomach.

“Virgil—”

“Let’s just go back home, alright,” Virgil pressed his hands tighter against his chest and jumped when Roman moved closer to him. “We found Janus, let’s just go.”

“I’m not coming with.” Janus said with confidence. They looked at him like he was crazy.

“Why the hell not!?” Remus complained. He threw his hands in the air causing them all to flinch. “Can’t you tell we came all this way to get you and you want to just stay here? In a pile of rubble?”

“Do you not understand what I did?” Janus hissed, clenching his gloved hands. “This isn’t manslaughter or self-defense. The number one rule of robotics is to bring no harm to humans and I killed  _ two.  _ It doesn’t matter if it was an accident or to protect myself and others. My programming is flawed. I’m too dangerous and have to be dismantled!”

“But that’s unfair!” Thomas tried to reason, but he didn’t know how to dispute what he had said. Everything he said was right. “You were just protecting yourself, you were being hurt and Virgil—”

“We are not  _ human,  _ Thomas,” Janus turned on him. He sounded desperate, like he wanted  _ so badly  _ for them to all understand what he’s gotten himself into. “We do not have the same lives. I might’ve saved Virgil that day, but I could very easily be the one to hurt him next time. I’m not  _ safe  _ to be around. Humans can change, but we have systems and hardware that will always be the same. And mine are unpredictable.”

“So are mine!?” Remus brought their attention back to him. “So are Roman’s?! Seriously, Jan, I’m constantly talking about murder and sex while Roman thinks about Disney and  _ we’re  _ not considered unpredictable? That’s bullshit!”

“He’s right,” Roman agreed quietly, like he almost didn’t want to. “If it wasn’t for the fact that dismantling two android cost more money than selling them, we wouldn’t be here right now because of our hardware.”

“And Patton has to be sold because he got really attached to the kids in his old charge. They thought he was their real dad.” Thomas added on, holding onto that small piece of hope in his gut. “Logan… doesn’t really count because he was just dropped off at a shelter, b-but he denied me ever giving him permissions so he could be less robotic and more human like the others. That has to be something wrong with his systems.”

“Listen to yourself,” Janus still snapped at them. He was stubborn to stay and have them leave him. “None of those things come close to murder.”

“Janus, I don’t want you to go.”

All the air was sucked out of the room at the almost broken way Virgil said those words. Even Janus’s expression visibly melted away and was replaced by concern over his companion’s— his  _ friend’s—  _ sadness. Virgil was still scared, still awfully shaky. With each rise and fall of his chest, he shook more. There were fake, watery tears building in his eyes. 

“I don’t want you to go even though I  _ hate  _ you, you’re all I have, you can’t—” Virgil stopped himself from panicking in the middle of his sentence and took a few moments to calm. Janus finally moved, coming up in front of Virgil and gently taking hold of his face, wiping away tears that didn’t get the chance to fall. “Please, we can go to a shelter or whatever, just please don’t leave me alone, Dee— Janus— whatever your name is now, just... Please.”

Janus’s lip twitched at the old name. He shushed Virgil softly, the broken voice box of his making it sound like a soft hiss. After a few moments of just trying to keep Virgil cool so his fans would shut off again, Janus spoke up.

“Virgil, I’ve forced you to do enough,” Janus whispered, gently holding Virgil’s face. “You like Thomas and his androids, and they like you. I don’t want you to hurt anymore, you know that.”

_ “Please.”  _

Janus pursed his lips. He didn’t want to go with him, his plan was to get dismantled and let Virgil live happily with the others. He had failed his duty as a Caretaker over and over again. He couldn’t be selfish any longer.

“Virgil—”

Janus’s words choked out of him. Virgil has wrapped him in a hug before he could finish. Because of the height difference between them, Janus was pressed against Virgil’s chest as he was crushed, able to hear the faint whines of pain and fear. Virgil tightened his grip and pressed his face against the shorter android’s head. They were trembling, neither one knowing which one was or if they both were. 

Slowly, Janus wrapped his arms around Virgil. 

“Okay. Okay, I’ll come back. Just…” Janus squeezed a little tighter. “You need to take care of yourselves. That means that if I become… too much to handle, you need to get rid of me. Understand?”

Janus heard no response, but he didn’t say anything else. He pushed Virgil away and pushed his bangs out of his eyes, looking at his green and purple eyes. 

“Go back outside and take those two with you. I’ll be there in a moment.” he nodded over at Roman and Remus. He let go of Virgil and let him leave with the others. He turned back to Thomas, hardening his expression once again. “You know what I want?”

“Um…”

“I want you to look after yourself and the others,” he explained. “My programming is still a problem, and if I get out of hand, I want you to call someone and get rid of me. For good.”

“Janus—”

“I’m not going to hurt or even kill you, Thomas. I act out of line, and you call to dismantle me. Understood?”

“But, Janus—”

_ “Understand?” _ Thomas winced. He looked away, but nodded slowly. 

“Yeah,” he whispered, making his way towards the door. Janus followed. “Understood.”


	9. Chapter 9

~~~~Janus was silent on the way back to Thomas’s place, only giving the others tight smiles and short answers. He didn’t answer any questions about why he ran. Virgil was in the passenger seat, but he looked at the rearview mirror every now and again just to make sure Janus was there.

He felt like a child.

Once the car stopped, Janus was first to get out, waiting for the others to quickly tumble after him. They looked at him like he might take off again. Hopefully this wouldn’t last long. Thomas opened the door and before he could even step inside, Patton’s shining blue eyes flashed in his face.

“Janus!” He flinched as Patton wrapped him into a tight hug, pressing his cheek to Janus’s burned one. That just made the hug all the more painful. “I’m so glad you’re okay, kiddo! We were all so worried that you got into some trouble or  _ worse!” _

“A pity that you care,” Janus mumbled with a sour expression. “Now  _ please  _ let me go, you’re hurting me.”

“Oh,” Patton quickly moved away. He looked guilty and his hands hovered awkwardly in between them. “I’m, um, I-I’m sorry—”

“It matters none,” he walked past Patton and into the house with the others. Janus grabbed the portable chargers where he had left it on the coffee table and checked how full it was. “Now, I need to charge up. I should be fine until this is full. I’ve mostly just been in sleep mode until someone turned up to the house, but if none of you are working today, I would like to rest.”

“Seriously? Leave for a day with no explanation and you still don’t want to talk about it?”

Janus would sigh if he could. Virgil was mad at him again. What did he possibly do wrong this time?

“Yes, Virgil, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Why not!?” Virgil threw his hands up, missing the twitch of Janus’s eye. “Why won’t you ever talk about this!? It’s been  _ weeks!” _

“Virgil, he doesn’t have to talk right now if he doesn’t want to,” Thomas tried to defuse the situation. He stepped in between them. “Let Janus relax a bit before hassiling him, okay?”

Virgil just grunted before slinking off to his room. Janus relaxed. He made a note to thank Thomas later for letting him be. He grabbed a cord for the portable charger and plugged it in. Then, he settled in on Logan.

“Are you good with machines?” Janus looked at his nails through his gloves as he spoke, trying to come off as casual. “Say… looking at objectives, adding commands... reprogramming.”

Janus noticed how uncomfortable Thomas looked with his question. He took no mind to it. He agreed that he understood Janus’s fears for his programming.

Logan nodded. “I do have the skill of robotics and engineering, but androids are not allowed to tamper with other androids. Unless my own hardware is broken, I cannot help you.”

All eyes turned to Remus. The Hive-mind blinked at the attention. He was a little slow, but he jumped once he caught up with the others and grinned.

“Oh! I have broken hardware!” 

“Wait, no,” Patton held up his hands to stop them both, stopping Janus from getting up. “No. Messing with another android’s programming is frowned upon.”

“But not illegal.”

“No, but you could get in a lot of trouble!”

“And all of you can get in trouble if I am capable of dangerous intent,” Janus shut down Patton’s attempts. He stared the Caretaker down unkindly until he backed down, hunching his shoulders slightly. “Wonderful. Remus, meet me in Roman’s room.” 

Janus walked to the stairs, ignoring Roman’s complaint about having his room taken away from him.

~~~~  
  


Remus stumbled into Roman’s room with a tool box that definitely wasn’t Thomas’s around 30 minutes later. Janus was waiting for him patiently from where he was standing in an official charging port. He reached up to unplug himself from the port and stepped off the platform.

“This came with Patton!” Remus lifted the tools above his head proudly. “We’ve never used it before!”

“That’s nice— put it down next to the desk for me, please.” 

Janus couldn’t help but raise his hands in preparation if Remus dropped the box. Thankfully, Remus lowered it to the ground with no craters left in the floor. Janus grabbed Roman’s desk chair and rolled it out for him to sit on. He hesitated.

“Now, Remus…” Janus started slowly. Once he got the Hive-mind’s attention, he looked down at his hands. Slowly, he undid the buttons on his gloves. “While removing my skin, I ask you to be careful. I’m… it’s scarred like my face too, and I rather not add on to it.”

Remus nodded, though he looked less enthusiastic than before. Janus took off his gloves and tossed them on the desk. He hesitated again at his cloak. With one push against his chest to quiet any sound, he undid the first buttons. He let his cape drop and— as to not overthink it— quickly started to unbutton his coat.

Janus’s scars weren’t that bad, but the fact that he had scars at all was big. An android’s skin has magnetic fibers sewed into it so they can be taken apart easily if in need for replacement or to look inside them, but if they’ve been injured, those fibers will break, leaving white scars behind. Janus only had a few. One long one on his back, two small ones on his chest, and one wrapped around his side. His face was the biggest issue compared to the rest of him. 

Still, Remus stared at the scars like they were horrible. And also like Janus was a war-torn hero. Remus was still awfully sweet in his own strange way.

“I’ve got some scars too,” Remus lifted up his arms and pulled down his sleeves to show a dozen or so white puncher scars from his pinkies down to his elbows. “My last person would throw me in a closet if I wasn’t behaving like Roman and I would bang on that door until it was in pieces!”

Remus giggled slightly like it was a funny memory. Janus was surprised that Remus and Roman didn’t have the best person either before Thomas, but he guesses he shouldn’t be. People beat the sides or top of their TVs and computers if they’re not working correctly, why wouldn’t they do that for androids?

“I’m sorry, that must’ve been scary.” Janus folded up his coat and put it on the desk with his other clothes. He sat with his back towards Remus and arms crossed on top of the back of the chair. 

“Yeah, I guess it was,” Remus’s voice tried to stay perky, but there was a strain in it that made it fall flat. “Mostly it just scared Roman. I was more blind rage and yelling while Roman was really freaked out. Apparently, I think of some crazy shit when in there.”

Janus just hummed. He was about to say something else, but jumped when Remus touched his back.

“Scare ya?” He chuckled. He felt around for the slight edge where the skin could get peeled away. “Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle.”

Janus rolled his eyes, but tried to relax against the back of the chair, resting his head in his arms. Remus found the edge and peeled away the skin, a sensation similar to taking off wet clothes. He dropped them on the desk with his clothes and started with the second piece. Now, Janus’s back was nothing but smooth grey plastic.

“What kind of android are you?” Remus made small talk as he bent down to grab some tool from the tool box. “You look a little older. ‘18?”

“‘17. C-S0217.”

“A Companion!” 

“Caretaker to be exact.”

“You don’t seem like the type,” Remus exclaimed. He jabbed a screwdriver just under Janus’s shoulder blade. Surprisingly, he didn’t jump this time. “You’re too cold and selfish.”

“That’s why we’re doing this,” Janus said. Remus unscrewed one of the plates. “My systems may be malfunctioning because I _am_ selfish and unkind. Androids like that are dangerous, especially as a Companion.”

“Hey, it’s not that bad being a broken machine,” Remus pointed the screwdriver at him and looked at him over what was left of his shoulder. “If I wasn’t broken then you wouldn’t be able to be fixed right now.”

“Yes, but all that’s wrong with you is that you and Roman aren’t in sync. I’m capable of murder.”

“I am too.”

Janus froze, core momentarily shutting off. Remus noticed the shift and dropped his hand in his lap.

“The whole reason we were sold was because I hit my last person in the head with a bat when she went to let me out of the closet. I just didn’t keep swinging,” Remus sounded uncomfortably and uncharacteristically serious. “It freaked us out that we were capable of fucking violence like that. And we’re Assistants.”

“We? I thought Roman was still working fine?” Janus asked. He moved his head so he could see Remus. As soon as eyes were on him, he lifted his hand again and kept working.

“No. Come on, Jan, we’re Hive-minds. What happens with one, happens with the other.” Remus removed the last of the paneling and Janus brought screens for Remus to work on. “Roman is broken too, he just hides it.”

A few minutes of silence passes, Janus thinking through Remus’s words as the Assistant tapped around on the screens, occasionally messing with the wires in Janus’s back. 

“Why wouldn’t you want to be fixed?” Remus looked up at the question, confused.

“Why would I? I like the way I am even if the others don’t. And I haven’t hurt anyone since then.” Remus paused as he focused on his task before continuing. “It’s not like I feel the urge to hurt people. It’s like humans, they’re capable of violence and murder, but they don’t do it.”

Janus didn’t have anything to say for that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Interesting chapter huh?? More depth shit we getting into their issues now that there are no threats in the way. Also the model number actually has a story about it;   
> C stands for companion because that’s his model type and programming and 0217 stands for his birthday! February of 2017. I actually don’t know if the 2017 part is right, but androids are still new tech in this universe so they aren’t much older than that. Patton is like,, 2016 so


	10. Chapter 10

Nothing.

All that poking and prodding just told them that there was no way to fix him without completely restarting him and starting over.

Janus was pissed.

When Thomas saw them come down stairs 3 hours later, he almost hoped it was good news. But seeing both their expressions of disappointment, it was clear it wasn’t. 

“Can’t do it,” Remus said bluntly, shrugging his shoulders and putting the tools on the table. “It wasn’t tampered with, so it’s just some mess up with his programming. I can’t fix it unless I wanna wipe Janus clean.”

“Oh, Janus. I’m sorry.” Thomas tried to express his sympathy, but Janus didn’t say anything. The android just straightened out his posture and nodded absentmindedly. He walked over to the coach and sat down, playing with the button on his glove. “What… what do you want to do now?”

“Nothing.” Janus deadpanned. He dropped his hand on his crossed knee and looked up at him. “You all won’t let me get dismantled until I hurt one of you, so I’ll just have to do nothing.”

“It won’t have to come to that, will it?” Patton asked quietly, like he was afraid of the mere thought of it.

“It might,” Janus sounded bitter. “One of you might have to get hurt before you realize the weight of what you’ve gotten into.”

“Oh, don’t be dramatic, Jan.” Remus bounced down next to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. From what Thomas could see, it didn’t bother him.

“I have the right to be dramatic.” Janus complained, but he settled besides Remus. Thomas smiled to himself. It was nice to see Janus was making friends with his androids just like Virgil had.

Speaking of Virgil…

The android came down stairs with his hands stuffed in his pockets. He glanced at Janus and Remus and huffed. He walked past them and to the kitchen instead to talk with Patton, Roman, and Logan.

“What’s his problem?” Remus snarked, watching Virgil smile at Patton. 

“He finds it bothersome that I want to befriend you.” Janus answered, seeming indifferent.

Remus narrowed his eyes. “Why should he care. He lost his chance to be friends with you being a dick head.”

“Remus, come on.” Thomas sighed, rubbing his forehead.

“Virgil could never lose his chance as my friend. He’s been through everything I had, he’s just handling it difficulty.”

“Yeah, I’m sure he’s got battle scars about the situation too.” Thomas agreed. Remus still rolled his eyes.

“He and Roman belong together,” he muttered. Leaning more on Janus’s side, he watched the three, specifically his brother. Remus must’ve thought something, because Roman glanced at him and his smile wavered. “They love to ignore their problems and try to hide themselves among others.”

The mood shifted. Janus looked down at his lap, a low moan coming from his chest. Thomas frowned, confused at what changed. Remus seemed just as confused. He shifted and removed his arm from around Janus’s shoulders. 

“What?”

Janus shook his head. He spoke quietly, lisp making it almost hard to hear. 

“If anyone is hiding and ignoring their problems, wouldn't it be the one lying about their name?”

Thomas swallowed. He reached out to Janus and tried to comfort him by rubbing his knee. Janus glanced at his hand, low sound growing in his chest and he did nothing to try and quiet it. It made Thomas’s own chest ache. 

“You’re not lying or hiding, Janus.”

“Janus isn’t my real name, what would you call that?” He snapped, making Thomas let go of his knee. “And what would you call ‘running away as soon as someone finds out about your past’?” 

“That’s being cautious,” Thomas argued. “You had to be. You didn’t know us, why would you give us your name? And why would you tell us about your old people? That’s none of our business.”

“Thomas—”

“And Janus  _ is _ your name,” Remus interrupted. He snorted, laughing in an attempt to lighten the mood. “If you go by it and you're comfortable with it, then it’s your real name. Who cares if it’s not what’s in your database as your name, my name is technically Roman 2.0.”

Janus’s lip twitched, which egged Remus to go on.

“And who cares about you murdering someone and being abused?” Thomas threw a pillow at his head. “Not what I meant. W-what I meant was, who cares about your past. No one cares about mine or Roman or Logan and Patton. I don’t even know Logan’s story but he’s still my friend.”

“He’s right, Janus,” Thomas nodded, smiling in amusement at Remus. “Your past life doesn’t matter if you changed for the better.”

“And who's to say I have changed for the better?” Janus challenged. “What has changed about my behavior that proves that I am not the same person I was that night?”

“First off, you came back when Virgil asked you too,” he started listing off the reasons. “And you let Virgil convince you to stay here. You care about us— complete strangers— and don’t want us getting hurt. You went back to that house to  _ mourn,  _ Janus, you can’t say you haven’t changed.”

Janus didn’t respond, just keeping his face neutral even when his chest cried. Remus started to shift. He’s always been uncomfortable with serious situations and especially silence. A few moments pass with still no response, Remus couldn’t handle it. 

“That’s it,” Remus threw his arms around Janus, ignoring the flinch, and pulled him on top of him, lying down the length of the coach. He smuggled him into a tight hug, making sure to press their chest together to stop the sad noise. “I’m not gonna let you sit here and cry about how bad of a person you are. We are gonna cuddle.”

“Remus, he might not be comfortable doing that—” Thomas quickly got up to pull them off, but stopped. Janus looked scared, more scared then when Thomas first saw them on the doorstep. 

But he was hugging Remus back, chest rising and falling on top of the Hive-mind’s. Remus reached up and removed his hat, tossing it on the floor and pulling the shorter so he could hide his face in his shoulder. He giggled.

“Your hair tickles.” Janus laughed silently with him. He snaked his arms tighter around Remus and Thomas could just barely see his gloved fingers jabbing Remus’s sides and making him squirm and giggle more.

Thomas smiled at the two, relaxing now that he knows that he’s not uncomfortable. He picked up Janus’s hat and dropped down on the seat by their feet. Turning on the tv, he didn’t notice Virgil staring at them all from the corner of his eye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little more Janus angst and reasons why he’s so upset about all this shit. He’s gotta right to be too, I don’t blame him for his thinkings. Next chapter is a pretty good one in my opinion


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> backstory backstory backstory also finally they talk

Janus was getting ready to retire for the night. He still charged in the living room, despite Remus’s very kind invitation to sleep in his bathroom. He’s glad he denied it, at least. He knows about Remus sleeping in the nude.

Despite not needing it, Thomas had given him a blanket and pillow the first few days here. Janus settled the pillow on the back of the couch and rests his head on it. He was about to grab his blanket and toss it over his lap when he heard a creak from the floor. 

Immediately, he was on high alert, freezing and head shooting up at the sound. Virgil stood at the stairs, looking uncomfortable. Janus relaxed slowly.

“What is it, Virgil?” He asked quietly, keeping his voice low.

Virgil didn’t respond. He just stared down at the floor for a while. Finally, he raised his head and looked at Janus’s lap. 

Good start. Usually he can’t even look at Janus when he’s upset.

“Can we—” he stopped himself. He shook his head slowly and looked back down. Much quieter this time, he asked; “Can we talk now?”

Janus knew what he meant. He still felt like they weren’t ready to have this conversation, but Virgil has gone through so much in the past month. Janus can do him this one last favor.

“Alright,” he settled the blanket on his lap and nodded for Virgil to sit down. The younger android hesitantly made his way over and sat next to Janus. “Where would you like to start?”

“Why are you always protecting me?”

Janus’s eyebrow twitched. Out of all the places to start, he didn’t expect to start there. “I protect you because you are my charge.”

“But you  _ always  _ protected me,” Virgil shook his head and worried his hoodie sleeves with his fingers. “You almost never protected anyone else. Even our people, who you were made to protect.”

“It’s hard to protect the people that hurt,” Janus insisted. “Devon didn’t need protecting because he was the one hurting us. He hurt you and my programing tells me to protect.”

“What about mom?” Virgil did look up at him this time, right in the eyes. Janus closed his mouth.

He didn’t like thinking about Devon’s wife. She was the one thing that will haunt Janus about their old life. He could push Devon out of his mind, forget him forever, but their mother will always be there like a ghost.

“You know I loved her,” he spoke softly, lisp painfully obvious. “She was nice to us… but she never let me help her. And she never helped us.”

“She tried.”

“Barely,” Janus hated every word that left his mouth. “She wouldn’t stop Devon when he would yell and hurt us, even if she helped us afterwards. She was kind, but a coward.”

“But she didn’t deserve to die.” Virgil insisted. Janus took his hand and smiled.

“No, of course not. I really didn’t… mean to kill them. I was just protecting you. If it wasn’t for me, you could’ve lost another eye. Or worse.”

It was a tasteless joke and only caused Virgil to give a thin smile. His eye wasn’t much of a sensitive topic as it used to be. 

“I remember when that happened…” he whispered.

It was when Virgil was still new to the household, he barely had a personality yet. He wasn’t doing anything particularly wrong to deserve what happened. Devon was in a bad mood and the others knew to stay out of his way and quiet. Virgil didn’t know as much and ended up paying that price with a shattered eye and dented cheek. It was then that Janus began to protect him, not wanting to be a coward and just watch.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t find a better eye. Your model was still fairly new and purple isn’t a very common color. It was the best I could do on short notice.”

“Jan, I told you, I know. I’m fine with it,” Virgil frowned again. Janus frowned too, wondering if Virgil was lying. He must’ve noticed that and shook his head. “No, really I’m fine with it. It’s just… what about you?”

“What about me?”

“Do you really not want to fix your face or your voice box?” Virgil asked. “I mean, Thomas has money, you won’t have to search for stuff in the junkyards. And you already had Remus take a look at you, why can’t he help fix you up?”

“I’m good with myself, Virgil,” Janus reassured. “I don’t mind being a little damaged like you don’t. Remus and Roman are a little damaged and no one minds…” He hesitated before he said his next part, not sure if he should really say it. “Remus told me they had a similar situation we had with their last person.”

Virgil furrowed his brows. “Really? They…”

“Yes. Remus told me once he started to lag, his person would be cruel to him and… well, I probably shouldn’t say exactly.” Janus regretted bringing this up. It wasn’t his story to tell, and by the look on Virgil’s face made him regret it more. 

Virgil looked like he wanted to keep asking questions, but he nodded. They sat in silence for a bit longer, just sitting with each other. Janus couldn’t help but feel… happy in the silence. He and Virgil haven’t talked like this in months. It was nice to finally have a conversation with him that didn’t end up with them screaming at each other.

Janus noticed Virgil’s eyes were oddly dull. He smiled and patted Virgil’s hand.

“I think that’s enough talking for tonight,” he let go of his hand. “You need to charge.”

“Can I stay down here with you?” Virgil asked, looking up nervously. “Just like when we were on the streets?”

Janus grinned. Virgil smiled awkwardly back. Janus grabbed the portable charger and handed it to Virgil, fixing the pillow and blanket so it was all Virgil’s. They both settled down, and he couldn’t help but compare this situation to when they first ran off as he drifted into sleep mode.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've never been a fan of making background character's names. Even tho Devon and Mom are big influences in the story, they feel bland and I hate making characters like that. BUT Virgil and Janus finally talked!!


	12. Chapter 12

_ Janus wrapped the coat tighter around him, trying desperately to quiet his terror and agony. _

_ It’s only been a few hours since the house fire. Virgil was still shaken and hugging himself with his burned hoodie. They were tucked in a park, away from the playground and sitting under the shade of a gazebo. Compared to normal Florida weather, it was rather chilly out, so no parents or people were out at the time, despite it being only noon. _

_ It was only noon. It felt like just seconds ago they almost died. _

_ “Are you okay?” Janus was awfully quiet without trying. He was probably still in shock. Virgil didn’t respond or even look up. “Dear—” _

_ “Don’t call me that,” Virgil bit, but it sounded too croaked to be effective. He clenched his hands at his sides and fat water droplets rolled down his cheeks. “I don’t want you calling me that anymore.” _

_ “Okay, I won’t.” Janus paused after words. Talking hurt his face— which was still tender and smelled like burning tires. He looked at his nails, how chipped and broken they were because of his awful habit of biting them. They couldn’t grow, after all. “Virgil—” _

_ “How could you do that?” Once again, Virgil interrupted him. His voice wavered dangerously with the bitterness and fear on his tongue. “How could you do that to them? They never— they didn’t deserve to—” _

_ “Virgil, you must believe me, I didn’t mean to start that fire.” Janus moved closer, voice rising in pitch to plead with his friend that it was the truth. He tried to rest his hands on the other’s knees like he’s done hundreds of times before to comfort him, but Virgil moved away. “I was just trying to get free.” _

_ “Why did you let them die?” Virgil’s chest rose and fell quickly with his vents kicking up a notch. “You left me alive for what? Some kind of torture?” _

_ “Of course not.” _

_ “Then why?” _

_ “I just saved you instead of them, Virgil,” Janus shut his eyes as a substitute for not being able to sigh in defeat. “It just happened.” _

_ “It’s not supposed to happen, Dee.” Virgil was quiet again, the fight leaking out of him like sweat. Janus opened his eyes again and looked at him, at his burned hoodie and sad eyes. He shivered once, and that was enough for Janus to take off his coat. _

_ “Dee?” Virgil pinched his eyebrows together and watched him strangely. Janus moved closer and wrapped his coat around Virgil, gentle as to not make another mistake. He sat beside him. _

_ “Get some rest,” Janus whispered, fighting the urge to reach up and brush those strangely long bangs from his face like he’s done so many times before. “Without any chargers, we need to rest often to stay awake.” _

_ Virgil stared at him for a moment, like he couldn’t keep up with the sudden change. He nodded, pulling Janus’s coat around him. A few more tears dripped from his chin. Janus lost the fight with himself and wiped away his tears.  _

_ “You need to rest too, Dee,” Virgil breathed, not moving away from the hesitant touch. “Please.” _

_ Janus smiled, strained and small. He pulled his hand away and rested it on his knee. “I will.” _

Janus woke with a start, core whining and face aching with phantom pains. The memory was all too fresh, still playing silently in his head. Virgil was gone from his side and for a terrifying moment, Janus thought he left. 

“Woah, hey!” Janus jumped. He glanced over at whoever spoke. Remus sat beside him, on the opposite side of where Virgil was. “What’s wrong? You’re jumping like a cat in a cartoon!”

Janus smiled, not quite reaching his ears. “Just came back from a memory. Not a particularly bad one, but not entirely pleasant.”

Remus grunted. “I get that. I get dreams all the time. Though, they’re more like nightmares…”

“I’m sorry about that.” Janus pushed himself up, grimacing when his face flared up again in pain. “Would you be a doll and get me a bag of ice?”

_ “Oh, _ I like when you call me doll.” Remus giggled and bounced off the couch. Janus followed him into the kitchen. Patton and Virgil were in the kitchen, Patton cooking eggs and bacon and Virgil standing off to the side. Janus swallowed and looked away. 

Remus grabbed something from the freezer and almost crashed into Janus when he turned back around to give it to him. “Here ya go! A bag of frozen baby corn just for you!”

“How sweet.” Janus took the corn and gently dabbed the scarred side of his face until it got used to the cold. He relaxed once he could press the bag to his cheek and shut his eyes.

“Is your face bothering you?”

Janus raised his eyebrow at Virgil. “Oh no, I feel like heaven,” Virgil rolled his eyes and pulled up a screen, choosing to scroll through that instead. Janus dropped the sarcasm. “Just a little. Phantom pains more than anything else.”

“Why’s that?” Patton asked, looking up at him and frowning in concern. 

“Might just be the memory I had while in sleep mode, but I don’t think the smell of bacon is helping.” Virgil narrowed his eyes at him.

“Oh,” Patton looked down at the bacon sizzling on the pan. A few seconds pass and then he jumped, quickly turning off the stove. “Oh! I’m so sorry! I didn’t—”

“Patton, you don’t need to stress,” Janus reassures the Caretaker. “I’ll just stay in the living room while you cook. Might shut off my sense of smell if it gets too much.”

“I can help distract you!” Remus grabbed Janus’s arm suddenly and gasped. He looked at him and smiled. “Do you want to help me with the script?”

“I suppose I can help.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i usually don’t like flashbacks in stories, but who cares this is robot fanfiction. Anyways here’s a little idea of how Janus and Virgil used to act and it sorta crumbling. 
> 
> And don’t question how nightmares and phantom pains are a thing for androids. It just is and there is a “science” to it but I already talked too much so—


	13. Chapter 13

“How would you feel if we added you guys to my YouTube channel?”

All of the androids— not just Virgil and Janus— looked up at Thomas’s question.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Logan surprised everyone by speaking up first. “Your fans are used to the three of us, they don’t even know Remus yet. Adding two more androids to the mix might disrupt our routines.”

“But they’ve been here for almost two weeks now,” Patton argued. He shrugged. “Not including the two days that Janus was gone, wouldn’t they be found out eventually?”

“No one has found out about Remus yet.”

“That’s because you guys won’t let me talk!” Remus popped up from behind the couch, accidentally shouting in Janus and Logan’s ears.

“I would like to try?” Virgil spoke up from next to Thomas, hunching his shoulders when all eyes turned to him. “I mean, it would be cool to actually work again. I mostly just cooked at the old place and cleaned a little, but Patton won’t let me do any of that now.”

Patton made a noise of complaint, but didn’t let any words go past his lips. Thomas grinned.

“See! There you go!” He patted Virgil’s knee. The android hid a crooked smile by hunching more into his chest. “We’ll have to figure out a role for you—”

“He can be Roman’s enemy!” Remus exclaimed, half climbing over the couch to wave his arms about as he talked. “He could be like, the scary version or, or he could be—”

“Virgil? Scary?” Roman interrupted with a laugh, causing Virgil to glare at him. Roman stopped, but still smiled. “Now, he might have been a little scary at first, but he’s a total wallflower!”

“Wallflowers can still be scary!”

“Alright,” Thomas put his hands up to stop the beginning of a fight. “Alright. I got a better idea.”

_ “Thomas!” _ Remus whined, going limp on the back of the couch. Logan rolled his eyes. “I’ve been begging you to make your videos more PG-13 and less G for years!”

“I was actually going to take your advice with that,” Remus perked up and blinked, the other main three copying him. “I was thinking Virgil could be a personification of my anxiety.”

“Anxiety?” All of them questioned at once. Janus looked unsure and a little wary of the idea. Virgil, however, looked interested.

“Yeah, I mean, Virgil has shown some type of anxiety—” he quickly held up his hand as soon as Logan opened his mouth. “— And I know androids can’t  _ actually  _ have anxiety, but you did say they could have traits that could be  _ perceived  _ as anxiety. It’s just an idea.”

Logan closed his mouth. Then opened it again. “I agree. It is just an idea—”

“I like it,” Virgil shrugged. “It kinda… fits me nice.”

Thomas smiled. Patton positively squealed and pulled Virgil into a hug. “I’m so excited to get to work with you! You don’t understand, this is gonna be so much fun!”

The others congratulated Virgil too, saying that they were excited to work with him too. Remus and Roman were already raving about ways to write him into the series. Thomas was happy to see them all accept the idea so easily and work to include him.

However, Janus still had an unsure look on his face, seeming to be fighting with himself if he thought this was a good idea. He didn’t join in on the conversation, eyes unfocused as he thought. Thomas didn’t think Janus would be as excited to join in like Virgil would. Thomas moved away from the others to sit closer to Janus, startling him into paying attention again.

“You don’t need to join if you don’t want to,” he told him. “It’s your choice.”

Janus didn’t respond for a brief moment. He picked at his gloves, seeming hesitant. “It’s not that I don’t want to join,” he began. “I just fear I might not be… appropriate.”

Thomas looked at him oddly. “What do you mean?”

“I know you said you wanted to make your videos more mature, but if I join, it might become  _ too  _ mature.”

“I don’t understand.”

Janus sighed, frustrated. “My face? My programming? My  _ personality?  _ They’re all way too inappropriate for a channel with such a young audience. Virgil is okay, like a Disney villain in those movies Roman likes, but I might be too much for the camera.”

“I don’t—” Thomas quickly shook his head, ending his sentence fast. “It’s your choice Janus, I’m not gonna force you to do anything. I know you’re still not comfortable here, so I want you to relax before anything else.”

Janus unclenched just a little, enough to give a brief smile. “Thank you, Thomas. I do trust you… as best I can…”

“Hey, I don’t blame you for having trust issues. Logan was the same way.”

“Hm?” Logan let out a little beep at hearing his name and sat up, turning to Thomas. “What is it?”

Thomas shakes his head, but Janus speaks first.

“It’s nothing—”

“I was just saying it took you a bit to trust me when you first got here.” Thomas accidentally interrupted, shooting a confused glance at Janus. 

Logan nodded. “Was that what you were going to say Janus?”

The android hesitates. It’s strange. Ever since Remus tried to reprogram him and failed, Janus has been acting distracted. Far away almost. He stops himself, he fidgets, always has a tight look in his face. Thomas wished he could ask what was going on in that head of his.

“Yes.” He lied. Very unconvincing one. Worse than the others Thomas had caught.

Logan doesn’t pick up on the lie and nods. He was never the best at reading tones, from what he’s heard, that’s common with Google Assistants. He goes back to the conversation with the other three, their talk moving on to something Thomas wasn’t paying attention to.

His thoughts were too preoccupied on Janus’s quiet behavior.

Finally, he thinks enough is enough and gets up. “You guys stay here, I want to talk to Janus for a second.”

Thomas doesn’t miss the flash of fear in both Virgil and Janus’s eyes. Maybe he should’ve chosen his words more carefully. Still, Janus obediently follows him into the hall.

Thomas smiles as reassuring as he can when they are alone. “You’re not in trouble, I’ve just noticed that you seem off the past few days and I want to make sure you’re okay.”

Janus doesn’t relax as he hoped he would. “I’m good.” He lies. He’s getting worse at that.

“You know you’re a bad liar right?” Thomas meant to make it sound like a tease, but the android stiffens and he regrets it. “Sorry just, you really don’t look good.”

“How nice of you to say.”

“Janus.”

Saying his name like that seemed pierce through the mask he hid behind. Janus deflates and he looks so exhausted.

“It’s hard,” Janus admitted, eyes going unfocused again. “My memories have been resurfacing while I charge. I don’t know why… might just be my faulty systems, but it’s hard turning back on and seeing Patton cooking and Roman talking with him and everything being so… domestic.”

Thomas frowned. “You’re having flashbacks?”

Janus shook his head. “Memories.”

“You know you can talk about this stuff with us right? You don’t need to handle this alone.” Thomas had to remind himself that androids and humans didn’t process trauma the same, but he still only knew one way to help people with this.

Janus still shook his head. “I’m not ready to talk right now. Everything’s… too fresh. I was never one to talk anyways, that’s more of Virgil’s department.”

Thomas nodded. He couldn’t help but be a little disappointed that Janus was hiding away again, but this time right under his nose. He didn’t complain, just nodding and keeping his eyes on his friend.

“Okay,” Thomas said. “But when you do feel like talking, please come to me instead of burying it more?”

“Promise.”

Thomas couldn’t tell if that was a lie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No fun facts this chapter or anything cause I’m really out of it


	14. Chapter 14

Janus jumped. He was getting ready to go into sleep mode when he turned around and Logan of all people was sitting next to him on the couch.

“Apologies, I didn’t mean to startle you,” Logan said, flat and professional. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you today, but could not do so with Thomas still needing my help. Now that he is asleep, I am free to talk.”

“Okay…” Janus said in suspicion. He knew he had nothing to be suspicious about, but he still was. He and Logan have never really talked, let alone by themselves.

“Thomas mentioned that I had some issues trusting him and Patton when I first came into their care, and I assume he said that to comfort your own trust issues.”

“You assume correctly…”

“Yes, well I feel our best interest is to confront that with me sharing my issues and you sharing yours. Metaphorically, an eye for an eye.” Janus huffed.

“An eye for an eye is more for revenge than sharing secrets,” Janus tried to joke, but Logan didn’t seem to get it. He rolled his eyes. “You start first.”

Logan nodded. “While I didn’t have the people you had, my person still wasn’t preferred. He didn’t use me often, and often I would have to force him to listen to me by bothering constantly. I was determined to do my job right as his assistant, but he would just tell me to do chores he didn’t want to do and ignore me. 

“One day, he shut me off. I believe he did so while I was in sleep mode for the night. I did not know why. When I turned back on, I was alone in his apartment, everything was gone, including my person, and a volunteer from a shelter told me that the new person that moved in found me shut off in a closet. According to them, I was there for approximately a week.”

Janus frowned. That must be why Logan was so… empty compared to everyone else. Neglected androids tended to be a lot more robotic than well socialized ones. And to be shut off and abandoned without warning? It must’ve been a confusing and upsetting time.

“Why are you telling me this?” Janus muttered, keeping his eyes down. Logan kept his gaze steady.

“Thomas has shown high amounts of concern for your well being after you ran away,” he said. “My job is to help him as well as I can.”

Janus rolled his eyes. Of course this wasn’t about him. Thomas came first before  _ his _ issues.

“And I wanted to help you.” Janus looked up, not believing him at first. “I wish to work on my inability to help people with their emotions. Would you be willing to help me with that?”

Janus huffed, smiling. “Alright…” he waited a moment, trying to think of how to describe his feelings from the past week. “When Remus tried to reprogram me, he mentioned that I was no different than any human. They’re capable of murder too, but that doesn’t mean they will.”

“And why doesn’t that seem to bother you?” Logan pressed his eyebrows together, tilting his head slightly.

“I don’t really know,” he admitted. “Maybe it’s just the way society made it seem like it was always a life or death situation if an android has faulty programming instead of it… making us more human.”

“What else could it be? Not that that isn’t the answer, but it seems that there’s more answers to your problem than that alone.” Janus took another moment to think.

“You are all so… happy here. Thomas is so nice to all of you, including me. I think I'm just having trouble adjusting to a healthy household when I started off with a very unhealthy one.”

Logan nodded, making a noise of understanding. “I was the same. Often in situations like ours, neglected androids have a hard time accepting love from others. And am I correct in assuming you are a Companion?” A nod from Janus. “Yes, being starved of a loving relationship with your person as a Companion is much more damaging than as an Assistant. Virgil was lucky to have someone like you to give him that love that you couldn’t find.”

Janus was silent through the whole explanation. Logan was… completely right. Janus was having a harder time fitting in with the others while Virgil seemed to have no problem because he just couldn’t accept how fast they seemed to accept  _ him.  _

“Virgil was well liked among our people too,” he said instead. “He was picked on less and the person that liked to call herself our mother was close to him. Of course, Virgil still had trouble like I did, but I caused the most trouble.”

“And why is that?”

“Well, a number of reasons,” Janus smiled and leaned up to look at Logan. “I was their first android, I was the first pick. I protected Virgil from his wrath by making a bigger mess or bigger deal of myself. And not to mention my  _ love _ for deception that they truly  _ loathed _ about me.”

Logan tilted his head. “Why do you lie? I do not understand the point behind lying to your people?”

Janus wasn’t surprised Logan didn’t understand. Virgil doesn’t either. “Lying is the only thing I can do to protect myself while with them. I lie, manipulate, and convince them into thinking it wasn’t Virgil’s fault, wasn’t anything to worry about, and sometimes, that it was their fault.”

“I’m sure they enjoyed that last one.” Janus laughed.

“They didn’t fall for that one often,” he admitted. “The only one I could convince was our mother.”

Logan gave an awkward, half-smile of sorts. He was trying to be alive more than he did around the others, probably trying to mimic how Thomas or Patton used to act when he had to admit his issues with him. Something about the whole interaction felt like it was based on a memory.

“You are  _ terrible,  _ Logan,” Janus meant it to be an obvious lie, playing off their topic, but Logan frowned like it was true. “Sarcasm, dear. Tell me you’re not one of those androids that takes things a little too seriously.”

Logan looked away for a moment, before puffing out his chest. “Google brand androids are known to be more literal, but we are also one of the most successful Assistants out of all the other brands, including our competitors Microsoft—”

“Hey, I was only joking,” Janus cut him off before he could get too defensive— another thing common in Google androids. “They have brilliant Assistants, if a bit strong programming. Nothing wrong about that.”

Logan relaxed just slightly and Janus wondered if the defensiveness was because of his programming or his past neglect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Logan finally having more of a use in this fic. Sorry about that I’m just really bad at keeping track of several different characters when writing.


	15. Chapter 15

Virgil enjoyed his character. He wasn’t an actor by any means, but Thomas tried to keep him as close to his personality as possible. It was almost… fun joking around with the others. He liked the others. A lot.

Janus and Remus sat out of the way. Alone.

And  _ no,  _ Virgil did  _ not _ feel envious to see them hanging out. Remus’s naive, happy expression as he whispered to Janus did  _ not  _ remind him of when he first met him. Nor did his eagerness to please or his smile when Janus would say something back.  _ Remus _ did not remind him of himself. Not at all.

Virgil mentally shook that train of thought off its rails. He wasn’t going to think about this again, he had friends and a job to focus on.

Yet, after Logan finished speaking and Virgil missed his line, he was still thinking about it.

“Virgil?” He jumped and flittered his eyes to Thomas. He looked at him patiently. “You alright?”

“Yeah,” Virgil replied automatically. He stopped and corrected himself. “Just uh, can we take a quick break?”

“Why would you need a break? Is this too much for you?” Patton asked worriedly, face pinched in concern that made Virgil feel guilty. 

“No— not… not really just,” he made a mistake looking towards Remus and quickly looked away, missing how the hive-mind’s grin faltered. “Would you believe it if I said I didn’t charge well last night?”

He tried joking, but that just made them more concerned. Why is making people worried or upset the only thing he’s good at? 

“If your battery doesn’t seem to be charging, than that can be an issue with the charger or you—”

“It was a joke, Logan,” Thomas interrupted him gently. He turned back to Virgil. “It’s okay if you want to take a break, Virgil. Actually, I should probably take a break for lunch anyways; why don’t we just stop for a bit?”

The others nodded, attention off Virgil for a moment. He risked a glance back at Remus and was surprised that he seemed to be… complaining to Janus about something. He was so hunched into the couch that his shoulders were the only thing against the back of it, his arms crossed and face pouting. Janus had a hand on his knee and bent to whisper for only Remus to hear.

Virgil ignored the feeling of envy and sat with Roman on the floor next to the tv. Remus and Janus could be friends, it shouldn’t bother him so much that Janus wanted to spend time with someone other than Virgil. Really, he’s doing the same, spending more time with Patton, Roman, and Logan more than him. Virgil wouldn’t like being only Janus’s friend while he had many others either.

Even though Janus is more than a friend to him…

But Remus and Roman have a brother-like relationship. They can have other friends. 

Why was he worrying so much about this?

“Huh,” Roman startled him from his thoughts. “One of your eyes is out of sync.”

“What?” Virgil brought a hand up to touch the skin underneath his green eye. Roman just gestured at him.

“Your eyes. They aren’t spinning at the same time,” Roman leaned back and grabbed the remote. “What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing to worry about,” Virgil adjusted his shoulders, hunching a little into himself. “Why were you watching me think?”

“Because I saw you looking at Janus and Remus earlier and your irises haven’t stopped spinning since. Plus—” Roman tapped his temple. “I can hear how annoyed he is about it. Look, I know my brother could be a lot and you have some tension with Janus, so if anything is too much, you can tell us.”

There was that guilt again. God, he didn’t even have a problem with them, why was he overthinking this? He shook his head. “No, there’s nothing wrong with them. Let’s just get back to the video.”

Roman’s eyes followed him as he pushed himself to his feet and headed over to Thomas to tell him he was ready to continue.

Remus watched Virgil retreat to his room as soon as filming for the day was over. He’s been bothering him all day, glancing at him and Janus with a sour look on his face. He hates it and complained to Janus about it.

“He just finds you too similar to himself,” he had said. “He doesn’t like to see the comparison.”

Remus thought it was bullshit and Virgil just didn’t like him. He  _ knew  _ Virgil just didn’t like him. It drove him insane.

“Why doesn’t he like me?” Remus blurted out, barely acknowledging that Patton was in the middle of a sentence. “I’ve never done anything to him!”

“Who doesn’t like you?” Thomas asked, taken aback.

“Virgil!” Remus threw up his hands before letting them fall in his lap. He crushed them in between his thighs, imagining it as Virgil’s head. “I mean, is it because I hang out with Janus? Because I’m not stopping that anytime soon!”

“It’s not that,” Janus tried to calm him down by placing his hand on top of his arm. “I told you, you just remind him too much of himself.”

“That’s a shitty excuse,” Remus grumbled. “He only started hating me after I became friends with you, he just avoided me before. And I didn’t mind that because everyone avoids me at first.”

“Why don’t you try talking to him, kiddo,” Patton offered, smiling in a sweet understanding that made Remus want to punch him. “I’m sure communication is all you need.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea…” Roman tagged on quietly, obviously knowing that Remus was not in the mood to have a  _ civil  _ conversation. Smart man.

“Communication is actually a very good way to handle a misunderstanding like this,” Logan agreed with Patton. “Me and Janus had a conversation not two nights ago.” 

Janus rolled his eyes, but nodded nonetheless when they looked at him. “Not in the same context, but yes it did help  _ me—” _

“Then it’s settled,” Patton propped his hands on his hips and raised his chin. “Remus, you head upstairs and talk this through with Virgil so he feels more comfortable living here.”

“Seriously, I don’t think—”

“So  _ he  _ can live here comfortably!?” Remus shouted, feeling offended that this was apparently  _ his  _ fault. “He was the one that was glaring at me! I never did anything to him!”

“Remus is right. This isn’t—”

“Virgil is a guest and he  _ should  _ feel comfortable here,” Remus was starting to get annoyed that everyone on his side was getting talked over. Patton looked at him firmly like what Remus thinks a dad would look like. “You go talk to him and work this out. I won’t ask again.”

“You’re not fucking asking,” Remus grumbled as he stomped up the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What’s this??? A Virgil arc coming up??? You knew this was coming eventually.
> 
> Android fact of this chapter: Androids’ irises spin like loading circles when they’re thinking or lagging. In Virgil’s case, his aren’t synced up because one is green and from another model. He would have to take a moment to sync them up himself


	16. Chapter 16

Virgil heard a loud knock on his door and jumped. He looked over, trying to quiet his core. 

“Who is it?” He loudly asked.

“Mary Poppins, bitch, open up.” Virgil scowled at Remus’s less than pleased voice. 

Slowly, he got out of bed and walked towards the door. He opened it just a crack and stared at Remus’s frustrated face. “What do you want.”

“They forced me to come up here and talk to you because I’m ‘making you uncomfortable.’” He raised his hands for air quotes and said it in a high pitched mocking voice, rolling his eyes.

“Well, tell them you did and go back downstairs.” Virgil started to close the door, but Remus stuck his whole foot in the way. 

“Hey, dumbass,” he snarked, laughing. “Don’t you think they’re gonna ask questions? You don’t know Patton as well as I do, do you?”

Virgil huffed. “Fine, just say what you want to say and go.”

“Why do you keep staring at me like I’m the one that broke your eye and burned Janus’s face?” Remus hissed. Virgil shrank a little. “I haven’t done  _ shit  _ to you and you’re acting like I caused world war 3.”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Virgil mumbled. “I’m not that bad to you.”

“Dodging!” Remus tossed a hand up in the air and waved a finger at him. “You’re dodging the questions!”

“Fuck off,” Virgil tried closing the door again, but Remus pushed it open. Virgil stumbled back as he shut it behind him, glaring at him.

“Listen, I’m trying here and that’s more I can say for you, you butt,” Remus snapped, crowding Virgil and towering over him. “So let’s just talk about this and this can be over with.”

Virgil’s core spiked up and screeched. Remus was way too close and he was  _ angry.  _ Virgil should’ve guessed this would happen eventually, he always pissed people off for no reason and they always want to confront him about it. He could only wait silently until Remus  _ really _ got mad.

That never came, however.

“Jesus Christ,” Remus leaned back a little, giving Virgil a little more room to breath. “I’m not gonna hit you, Virge.”

Virgil opened his eyes— he doesn’t recall closing them— and glanced at Remus. He could see that his anger was fading and was revealing a look of hurt. He stepped back completely, and Virgil’s shoulders slowly started to drop from where they were held up to his ears.

“You really just want to talk?” Virgil couldn’t bring his voice up any louder than a whisper, fearful that it would cause Remus to get angry again. 

“Of course,” Remus scoffed, looking a bit uncomfortable with the situation. “I told you that’s all they asked me to do.”

Virgil clenched his teeth and looked away from him, hunching his shoulders to stifle any sounds. “I don’t want to talk right now…”

Remus looked like he was trying not to scowl. He plopped down on the floor and crossed his arms. “Fine. But I’m not leaving until we do.”

Virgil ignored him and went back over to sitting on his bed, bringing up the screen he was scrolling on. He kept his eye on Remus still, but that seemed to get him angrier so he just stopped looking and stayed on edge. Why did Remus want to sort this out so badly? Virgil didn’t want to talk about it, why was he getting so mad?

The realization hit him like a truck.

He’s just doing the same thing Virgil did to Janus for weeks. 

“It’s just that—” Virgil cut himself off and glanced at Remus. He was waiting somewhat impatiently for him to go on. Virgil looked away again and tried steeling his nerves. “You remind me too much of myself.”

Remus deflated. “Janus said the same thing when I asked why you didn’t like me. I was hoping it was bullshit.”

“You do, though,” Virgil began fiddling with his hoodie sleeve. “You’re loud and gross, but you also have this… need to be liked and have honesty and safety in people. And you’re so attracted to Janus like… like I was before it happened. It’s just uncomfortable to see your own traits that you hate so much being acted out in front of you.”

Remus didn’t respond at first and Virgil feared he was in trouble for calling Remus all those things. He was no doubt in trouble, now that he thinks of it, none of the things he said were at all positive.

“Look—”

“You’re not wrong,” Remus interrupted. He shrugged. “I’m all those things. But I’m also not you. Don’t hate me just because we have similar traits. That’s fucking stupid.”

“I know,” Virgil mumbled. “I’m sorry.”

“And we probably have similar traits because of the similar ways we were brought up,” Remus went on like Virgil didn’t say a word. “I mean, Janus made a connection between him and Roman, but the difference there is that Janus would never stand by while  _ you  _ were getting hurt. I mean, he got his face burned off just because someone pushed you.”

Virgil looked down at his hands, sleeves covering his palms. He gently uncovered them and revealed them to Remus. The skin on the heels of his palms were melted off, the sleek grey plastic underneath was charred. 

“My hands went back to catch me when I was pushed towards the stove,” he began slowly, refusing to look at Remus as he shuffled closer to him. “They were burning and melting, but I couldn’t move away because he was standing right in front of me. Janus saved me from burning off my hands.”

“Well, isn’t that nice of him,” Remus chuckled, ruining the tense air around them. “All Roman did when I got hurt was look away until we were alone and then he just asked me if I was okay.” He leaned away and got to his feet, standing by Virgil’s bed. “See, there’s similarities between you and me, Janus and Roman, but we’re still different people. Don’t hate me just because I’m like you, dumbass.”

Virgil wanted to scowl and hiss at him, to tell him to shut up and leave him alone, but he didn’t do any of that. He pulled his sleeves back up and wrapped his arms around his legs, tucking them to his chest. 

“I know,” he admitted, shame lacing the words and making his chest moan. “I’m a terrible person and I expect too much from people. If they don’t meet my expectations then I treat them like they're terrible— I hate it.”

“Well, emo, good news,” Remus crashed down beside Virgil and ignored the flinch he gave. “That’s what happens to androids that wear their hearts on their sleeves. In your case, literally.” He tugged at Virgil’s hoodie sleeve and he shrugged him off. 

“You know how long it took Patton to stop thinking his old people were the best people in the world?” Remus stopped himself for a moment and shook his head. “Okay, well, they were better than most of ours, but she still got rid of him when he had a strong relationship with her children and didn’t even have him reset, which was at least a shitty thing to do.”

Virgil glanced at him, concerned. “Really? Patton?”

Remus nodded and cackled a little. “He’s got pretty severe AnDD and it took him a while to not get quiet and sad whenever he would mention his ‘kids’.”

“That’s awful.” Virgil would’ve never guessed Patton would have depression. The only cases he knows of are general programmed information like AnDD is caused by an android’s permissions being taken away or they were a traumatized Companion. It’s possible for Patton, but it was still surprising to him.

“The point is—” Remus suddenly broke through his thoughts and waved his hands around. “Everyone has problems and a lot have problems just like you, so don’t be a big meanie and make them feel more hated for no reason.”

Virgil nodded, bringing his shoulders up a little closer to his ears. Remus left before he could muster out an apology.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not the most satisfying chapter, but I’m kinda drawing a blank here. Thankfully, the book is ending soon.
> 
> Android fact here; AnDD or Android Defective Depression. It’s not a real disorder (because they are not organic beings) but, like said in the chapter, androids that were close to their persons and are abandoned/traumatized can often slow or inactive behavior and dulled emotions because of the broken bond. People call is ‘Defective’ but this is actually natural sense androids are supposed to be attached to their persons.


End file.
